Ludford calls for Turkish action on free speech

12.56.55pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 22nd Jan 2007

London's Liberal Democrat MEP, Baroness Sarah Ludford, an active campaigner on human rights and a strong supporter of Turkish membership of the EU, is calling for the Turkish government to take urgent and effective action to guarantee freedom of speech following the murder last Friday of prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

Baroness Ludford commented:

"Turkey must do much more to tackle the ultra-nationalist virus and a climate hostile to free speech which is deeply damaging to its case for EU membership."

"Prime Minister Erdogan needs to follow through on his accurate and perceptive observation that 'a bullet has been fired at democracy and freedom of expression' by supporting abolition of the notorious, outmoded and undemocratic Article 301 of the penal code which punishes insults to Turkish identity."

"There is an urgent need for an open-minded and historically rigorous commission of Turkish, Armenian and (if helpful) international academics to seek an agreed account of the violence, massacres, displacements and injustices suffered by Armenians, but also by Turks, Kurds and many other people in Anatolia and the Caucusus during and after World War One."

"This commission should advise on whether the term 'genocide' - which has a precise meaning as the deliberate attempt to exterminate an entire people and should not be used lightly even as a purported synonym for mass killings - correctly describes what happened to the Armenians."

"While it is deeply unhelpful that the French parliament and now the US Congress want laws making it a crime to deny that what the Armenians suffered nearly a century ago was 'genocide' - moves which also undermine free speech - it is also unacceptable that the Turkish authorities refuse to engage in research and debate on the issue."