"Turkey pledges to amend controversial insult law after EU criticism Mike Rosen-Molina at 7:16 PM ET
[JURIST] Turkish Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said Tuesday that a new bill to reform a controversial law [Amnesty backgrounder; JURIST news archive] that criminalizes insults to Turkish identity will go before the Turkish parliament soon. He did not say how exactly the bill would alter the law. Critics contend Turkey has used the law to silence government critics, a practice which has presented a stumbling block [JURIST report] to the nation's proposed accession to the European Union (EU). Sahin's announcement comes after EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn [official website] Tuesday released a report [PDF text] on Turkish progress toward EU membership that criticized the law and said that it needed to be 'brought in line with relevant EU standards.' BBC News has more. AP has additional coverage."
More:JURIST - Paper Chase: Turkey pledges to amend controversial insult law after EU criticism
