Turkey drops charges anaginst Orhan Pamuk

Euractiv, Brussels, 23/01/2006

The Turkish Justice Ministry had declined to rule on the trial against best-selling Turkish author Orhan Pamuk for allegedly insulting Turkish identity, and on that basis the Istanbul court reportedly decided to drop its charges.

The case against Pamuk stemmed from a press interview in which Pamuk said that "One million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares talk about it". He was accused under Article 301 of the country's revised penal code of insulting "Turkishness" and faced a jail sentence of up to three years.

Pamuk's trial was adjourned shortly after it began in December, and responsibility for the case was passed over to the government. Since the Turkish Justice Ministry has refused to issue a ruling as to whether the charges against Pamuk should stand, the case has now reportedly been closed by the Istanbul court on a technicality. However, there was no official confirmation from the court or the Justice Ministry.

The case against Pamuk has been strongly condemned by the EU. Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has repeatedly said that "it is not Orhan Pamuk who will stand trial [...] but Turkey", and called the case a "lithmus test" of Turkey's commitment to its reforms.

Welcoming the latest developments, Rehn expressed his hope that the decision on Pamuk’s case “will pave the way for a positive outcome” for those other “journalists, editors, writers and academics who still face similar charges” in Turkey today. “To this end, it is clear for me that Turkey needs to fill properly the loopholes of the current penal code, which leave too much room for abusive and restrictive interpretations limiting freedom of expression”.

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