ANKARA: GERMAN ANTI-RACISM MOVE RESTRICTS FREE SPEECH

  The so-called draft framework, essentially a recommended legal blueprint for European Union governments to follow, is very likely to serve as a recipe for other countries to follow the example of a French vote last October when a bill criminalizing denial of the alleged genocide was endorsed, the Turkish Daily News reported last month. 

  “This is a very wrong draft, which excludes a U.N. convention and brushes aside freedom of expression and academic studies,” government spokesman Cemil Çiçek told reporters after a Cabinet meeting late on Monday.

  The draft negotiating framework penalizing the denial of the alleged genocide and sentencing deniers up to three year in prison will appear on the agenda between April 18 and 19 under the German presidency of the European Union, Çiçek said, complaining that the draft was restricting free speech and hindering academic studies on genocide allegations.

  He said Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül had conveyed Turkish concerns over the draft to Germany during a visit last week, adding that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an would bring the issue onto the agenda when he had talks with German officials during a planned visit to Germany over the weekend.