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Rehn challenges Ankara on 'Turkishness' ruling

Published 13 July 2006 - Updated 28 May 2012
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The Turkish penal code needs to be changed again if Ankara wants to stay on the EU course, Commissioner Rehn warns after a court ruling that limits freedom of expression.  

Turkey's high court on 12 July confirmed a six-month prison sentence for Hrant Dink, the editor of Agos, a bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly. Dink was sentenced for insulting "Turkishness" by questioning the official Turkish version of what happened to the Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. 

According to the Turkish online paper Zaman, Dink had compared "Turkish nationalism to carcinogenic tumors and poisoned blood in its responsibility for genocide."

Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn expressed disappointment in a statement, which read: "I would therefore urge the Turkish authorities to amend Article 301 and other vaguely formulated articles in order to guarantee freedom of expression in Turkey." Rehn also noted that this was a key political criterion for EU accession.  The Commission will review the situation in an upcoming progress report October or early November. 

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