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| Europe |
| New Turkish Penal Code Drafted |
| 2004-05-14 |
| The parliamentary Justice Subcommittee on Thursday approved the draft legislation for the most radical overhaul of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) in nearly 80 years. Under the proposed amendments to the TCK are sweeping changes to the status of women and improving human rights, MSNBC reported. Among the articles dealing with women are those that abolish reduction in sentences for a convicted rapist if his victim marries him after the crime is committed and for the crime of honour killing if the defendant claims he or she was provoked into committing an act of violence in the name of honour. There will also be no reduction of sentence for a woman who kills her illegitimate child. Another contentious issue that will pass into history if the draft law is passed by the parliament is that of forced virginity tests. Under the new law, a woman can only be forced to take a test to prove her virginity if so ordered by a court. The draft is also foresees increased sentences in cases of children abuse and sexual abuse of those under the age of consent. There is also to be an increase in the sentence of public employees found guilty of torture, with the gaol term increased from five to 12 years. If the torture resulted in death the sentence would be life imprisonment. In addition, the notorious article 312 of the TCK, which deals with discrimination between different ethnic and religious groups and which has been broadly interpreted at times, leading to the many freedom of expression cases, is to be narrowed in its meaning. |
| Posted by:TS(vice girl) |
| #5 Do they hate us worse than they hate each other? Though I strongly dislike *some* of you (like .com, B, Raj, possibly a few others), I'm not interested enough to call it "hatred". And I hate neither Murat nor Turkey. Indeed in this forum, I've often come to Turkey's defense, especially regarding her progress in this last few years -- some people here, only interested in how much useful to America Turkey is, have often commented how much Turkey has supposedly worsened in the last years. Because, you see, the Turkish generals don't overthrow governments so much nowadays as they did a couple years back. Me, who am more interested in things like human rights and democracy, have commented that she has been improving -- a thing I attribute to a large extent to EU's influence. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-05-14 8:47:36 PM |
| #4 Has anyone considered setting up a posting thread for Ari and Murat to weigh in on. That might be a real kick. Do they hate us worse than they hate each other? |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2004-05-14 3:54:16 PM |
| #3 And Murat has the audacity to talk about Abu Ghraib?! |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-14 1:19:19 PM |
| #2 Murat must be so proud... |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-05-14 1:17:55 PM |
| #1 There is also to be an increase in the sentence of public employees found guilty of torture. . . If the torture resulted in death the sentence would be life imprisonment. In the 21st century, Turkey joins the 20th. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-14 11:26:05 AM |