SABAH- Retired Ambassador Sukru Elekdag writes on the debate over freedom of speech within the context of harmonization laws and the EU. A summary of his column is as follows:
The freedoms of speech and expression as well as education in Kurdish and Kurdish radio-TV broadcasts, which have recently dominated our country's agenda within the framework of the harmonization laws with the EU, have a more significant meaning for Turkey than being just for gaining EU membership. Their importance lies in the desire of the Turkish people to see a respectable Turkey with a sound democratic system, one based on the rule of law. The preconditions for being a respectable state today, lie in our ensuring a democratic system which guarantees the basic rights and freedoms of our citizens. Articles 312 and 159 of the Penal Code in their present state would impose restrictions on freedom of thought and expression akin to those in dictatorial regimes. The changes on the table should have been in line with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decisions. If Ankara wants the ECHR not to impose sentences on itself, it should break the chains of the freedoms of thought and expression and while doing so take the norms of the ECHR into consideration so as not to be in the wrong. We must declare that President Sezer's words, saying that statements which do not call for action or pose a concrete threat cannot be punished, aptly summarize these norms. On education in Kurdish, the chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) made a moderate and balanced explanation saying that the official and educational language in Turkey was Turkish. However, all citizens have the right to speak freely, improve their mother tongues and develop their cultural riches. He added that the state is ethnically blind and that it doesn't discriminate among its citizens according to mother tongue, religion or sects. The state's stance regarding education and training covers two different areas,.one public and the other private. Public education is given in Turkish, the official language of the country. The state has no commitment to give education in the various tongues spoken within the country. On the other hand, all Turkish citizens must have the opportunity to establish training and educational courses in their mother tongues within the framework of individual rights. The barriers to broadcasting in Kurdsih must be lifted within these individual rights. A short time ago, Ankara struck a clause from the Constitution speaking of 'language banned by the law'. Some EU circles believe that this action was taken to mislead the Europeans just before the Laeken Summit. Such a stance doesn't become Turkey. Therefore, I hope that necessary changes will be introduced and that the path to Kurdish broadcasts will be opened. Moscow is no longer a foreign threat to Turkey. It wants to be a NATO member and sees cooperation with Turkey in its national interests. Therefore, demands for individual rights should not be opposed by saying that these would pose a threat to the territorial integrity and political unity of the country.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION