Itll Take Some Time Olli Rehn

Representatives of Turkey's publisher and writer organisations have responded to recent warnings issued by European Union Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn on "freedom of expression" issues, saying that it will take a while for any changes to take place and that the road ahead will certainly not be an easy one.

Marking the formal decision for accession talks with Turkey at the Luxembourg summit this week was Rehn's voiced expectations from this country now to display positive developments on freedom of expression and the Turkish Penal Code following "some negative decisions that have been observed".

Publishers Union of Turkey (TYB) Secretary General Metin Celal told Bianet that Rehn's warnings should not be expected to lead to easy results, noting that "there is a resistance in the guise of those charged with enforcing all the laws that bring freedom either interpreting them differently or not enforcing them at all. Unfortunately, we are not looking at the future with much optimism".

Vecdi Sayar, President of the Turkey Center of International PEN, is more optimistic but warned an overnight change should not be expected. Pointing out that lifting all restrictions on the freedom of expression in Turkey has been called for by all democratic forces in the country for years Sayar said "the real issue is to lift the censorship in the minds of the individuals in society" and because of this, he does not believe the problem can be overcome in the short term.

Celal: Going backwards over last year

Asked by bianet on the issue, Celal said "I can easily say that there has been a backward trend in view of freedom of publishing over the last year".

The TYB executive sees the amount of court cases launched under the controversial article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and the upcoming new Anti Terror Law (TMY) as indicators of this. "If the TMY draft is approved" he warns, "this backward trend will gain momentum".

Celal suggested that the laws Turkey started to pass in 2002 for compatibility with the European Union had led to various problems in the field of freedoms, adding, "there is a form of resistance and reluctance that shapes in either differently interpreting or not enforcing all the laws passed for freedoms".

Celal believes that because of this, freedom of expression will remain to be a problem on Turkey's agenda for a while. "Unfortunately" he told Bianet, "we do not look at the future with much optimism".

Sayar: Lifting legal obstacles will lift censorship in minds

PEN Writers Association Center for Turkey President Vecdi Sayar, meanwhile, regards Rehn's remarks as positive and supporting.

"I regard Europe's requests, suggestions and sanctions in the scope of freedom of expression in Turkey as positive and believe this will support our struggle" he told Bianet.

Noting that they would continue their struggle for democratic rights and freedoms, Sayar said "this should not just be limited to the freedom of expression. We will continue to voice the demands from society for current restrictions on other democratic rights such as union rights and freedom of organisation. We will expect the EU to evaluate these demands in the same way".

Stressing that freedom of expression can develop with the censorship in the individual's mind, Sayar added "lifting legal obstacles will give an important opportunity for the censorship in mind to be lifted. But this is not an issue that can be solved overnight. It is a social process".

"First of all, people have to be free themselves from the censorship they have imposed on themselves. We need to be have a universal viewpoint and free ourselves from prejudice such as 'we are all alike' or 'everything from abroad is bad'." (EO/II/YE)