PACE PRESIDENT CALLS ON TURKEY FOR REFORMS ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH, MINORITY RIGHTS

The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Rene van der Linden yesterday urged Turkey to press ahead with reforms and pay more attention to freedom of expression and minority rights two areas that await further improvement if the country is to proceed on its thorny road toward the European Union. I am one of the biggest supporters of Turkey’s EU membership as long as Turkey sticks to its commitments, Rene van der Linden told reporters following a meeting with Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan. He warned Turkey to pay much more attention to the much-criticized article 301 of the Turkish penal code that makes it a crime to insult Turkish identity. The contentious article has landed a string of intellectuals in court due to denigrating “Turkishness” and mostly for comments on the Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Linden also urged the Turkish government and Parliament to improve minority rights. I am sure that you, the new Parliament and the new government will pay attention to these issues and contribute to their solution, he told Toptan, the Turkish Daily News reports.

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259 days before | remove (5) | reply
Zenk Azad wrote:
The same Europe that called the Berlin Conference and gave green light to Ottoman Empire to commit more genocide is expecting reform from Republic of Turkey that Ottoman Empire has been promised after promised several decades ago.
Then, the Great Powers were competing with each other on building the only Turkish Rail Ways so that the rail ways be connected to ports not to the center of Empire. That is exactly what happened. Furthermore, they were using Ottoman Empire to Keep Russian Empire at bay. Under these circumstances, the Ottoman Empire had no reason to break its promises on reformation of its domestic policy about managing none-Turkish people.
Today, the same players are competing on getting oil from Eastern Asia. They need stable region so that the oil will flow to Europe without any interruption.
There is only one problem. That is Turkish people are not reformable. There is one solution though. To eliminate all turks. Well, who can or must do it? Those who want to be not eliminated by Turks: Armenians and Kurds!

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PACE PRESIDENT CALLS ON TURKEY FOR REFORMS ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH, MINORITY RIGHTS
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