Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 104: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his Department has raised the issue of the upcoming trial of a person (details supplied) with the Turkish authorities; his views on this trial taking place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39182/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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On 30 June this year Mr. Orhan Pamuk was charged by a local prosecutor under Turkey's new penal code with insulting the country's national character, following comments he made about the deaths of 1 million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds in Turkish history. The charge was brought under Article 301 (1) of the new code which covers, inter alia, "insulting being a Turk, the Republic, the organs and the institutions of the State". The first hearing in the trial is due to take place on 16 December in Istanbul and the EU will be represented by the Commission and member states. The new penal code entered into force in June of this year.

Like other European partners, we would be very concerned if the code were used in a way which was detrimental to the promotion of human rights or freedom of expression in Turkey. In that regard, I have raised our concerns about the Pamuk case with the Turkish Government, including in my most recent meeting with Foreign Minister Gul at the United Nations in September. He indicated that he shared our concern, but that the Turkish Government could not interfere in the judicial process. Together with our EU partners, we will continue to monitor the situation closely and will urge the Turkish authorities to take any corrective action which may be necessary.