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EURO MPS DEPLORE TURKEY'S SLOW REFORM PROGRESS
by Yann Ollivier
Agence France Presse -- English
September 26, 2006 Tuesday 6:40 PM GMT
The European Union on Tuesday criticised Turkey over its slow pace
of reforms, urging Ankara to respect its obligations in order to
continue talks on EU membership.
Most of the European parliamentary deputies debating the issue
in Strasbourg echoed the views of the European Commission and the
Finnish EU presidency which deplored the lack of momentum in the
Turkish reform process.
"Turkey needs to give fresh impetus to reforms," said Finland's
minister for European affairs, Paula Lehtomaki.
"The momentum for reform has slowed down in Turkey in the past year,"
echoed EU Enlargement Minister Olli Rehn
There was more support for Turkish membership from the European
socialists, with bloc leader Martin Schulz arguing that Turkish EU
membership would "refute irrevocably the idea that western values
are incompatible with Islam".
The debate came on the day that the EU announced that Bulgaria and
Romania could join the group in 2007.
That announcement came with a stark message from EU Commission
President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso that the union had to get its
institutional house in order before letting any other nations in.
A senior Turkish diplomat said Tuesday that EU officials do not expect
Turkey to be ready for membership before 2015.
Turkey's accession talks, which started last October, have met with
serious European opposition amid concerns over its sizeable population,
relatively weak economy and predominantly Muslim faith.
The Commission is set to issue a crucial report on Turkey's progress
towards membership on November 8 amid mounting EU criticism that
Ankara is failing to ensure freedom of speech and a row over trade
privileges for Cyprus.
"If there is no progress," before then "there will be consequences
for the whole accession process," said Lehtomaki.
Last week, the EU slammed Ankara for failing to promote free speech
after best-selling novelist Elif Shafak went on trial for insulting
the Turkish nation in a book about the massacres of Armenians under
the Ottoman Empire.
Even though the writer was swiftly acquitted, the Commission said "a
significant threat to freedom of expression" remains in Turkish law
and urged amendements in the penal code, including the infamous Article
301, which landed Shafak and a string of other intellectuals in court.
Turkey's EU bid is also complicated by its rejection to open its sea
and air ports to Greek Cypriot ships and planes on the grounds that
international restrictions on the breakaway Turkish Cypriot statelet
should also be lifted.
"The credibility of the European institutions are at stake," EU
rapporteur on Turkey Camiel Eurlings told the parliamentary plenary
debate.
Eurlings is the author of a recent hard-hitting report on Turkey
which will go to a vote here on Wednesday.
While there was general unanimity on Turkey's poor human rights
record and restrictions on the freedoms of religion and free speech,
the eurodeputies remained divided on whether an apology from Turkey
is required over the Armenian massacre.
Earlier this month Turkey denounced an EU report saying that Ankara
must recognize the 1915-1917 genocide in Armenia as a condition for
joining the EU.
Armenians estimate that up to 1.5 million of their forebears perished
in systematic killings orchestrated by the Ottoman Empire between
1915 to 1917.
Ankara rejects all accusations of genocide.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged Tuesday that
Turkey would stick to the path of democratic reform.
"We are keeping up the reform process, without slowing down and
without losing our enthusiasm," Erdogan said in a speech.
He added, however, that freedoms cannot be "limitless" and underlined
that enacting higher democracy norms in the country also required
"a change in mentality" among the judiciary, "which does not happen
overnight."
by Yann Ollivier
Agence France Presse -- English
September 26, 2006 Tuesday 6:40 PM GMT
The European Union on Tuesday criticised Turkey over its slow pace
of reforms, urging Ankara to respect its obligations in order to
continue talks on EU membership.
Most of the European parliamentary deputies debating the issue
in Strasbourg echoed the views of the European Commission and the
Finnish EU presidency which deplored the lack of momentum in the
Turkish reform process.
"Turkey needs to give fresh impetus to reforms," said Finland's
minister for European affairs, Paula Lehtomaki.
"The momentum for reform has slowed down in Turkey in the past year,"
echoed EU Enlargement Minister Olli Rehn
There was more support for Turkish membership from the European
socialists, with bloc leader Martin Schulz arguing that Turkish EU
membership would "refute irrevocably the idea that western values
are incompatible with Islam".
The debate came on the day that the EU announced that Bulgaria and
Romania could join the group in 2007.
That announcement came with a stark message from EU Commission
President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso that the union had to get its
institutional house in order before letting any other nations in.
A senior Turkish diplomat said Tuesday that EU officials do not expect
Turkey to be ready for membership before 2015.
Turkey's accession talks, which started last October, have met with
serious European opposition amid concerns over its sizeable population,
relatively weak economy and predominantly Muslim faith.
The Commission is set to issue a crucial report on Turkey's progress
towards membership on November 8 amid mounting EU criticism that
Ankara is failing to ensure freedom of speech and a row over trade
privileges for Cyprus.
"If there is no progress," before then "there will be consequences
for the whole accession process," said Lehtomaki.
Last week, the EU slammed Ankara for failing to promote free speech
after best-selling novelist Elif Shafak went on trial for insulting
the Turkish nation in a book about the massacres of Armenians under
the Ottoman Empire.
Even though the writer was swiftly acquitted, the Commission said "a
significant threat to freedom of expression" remains in Turkish law
and urged amendements in the penal code, including the infamous Article
301, which landed Shafak and a string of other intellectuals in court.
Turkey's EU bid is also complicated by its rejection to open its sea
and air ports to Greek Cypriot ships and planes on the grounds that
international restrictions on the breakaway Turkish Cypriot statelet
should also be lifted.
"The credibility of the European institutions are at stake," EU
rapporteur on Turkey Camiel Eurlings told the parliamentary plenary
debate.
Eurlings is the author of a recent hard-hitting report on Turkey
which will go to a vote here on Wednesday.
While there was general unanimity on Turkey's poor human rights
record and restrictions on the freedoms of religion and free speech,
the eurodeputies remained divided on whether an apology from Turkey
is required over the Armenian massacre.
Earlier this month Turkey denounced an EU report saying that Ankara
must recognize the 1915-1917 genocide in Armenia as a condition for
joining the EU.
Armenians estimate that up to 1.5 million of their forebears perished
in systematic killings orchestrated by the Ottoman Empire between
1915 to 1917.
Ankara rejects all accusations of genocide.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged Tuesday that
Turkey would stick to the path of democratic reform.
"We are keeping up the reform process, without slowing down and
without losing our enthusiasm," Erdogan said in a speech.
He added, however, that freedoms cannot be "limitless" and underlined
that enacting higher democracy norms in the country also required
"a change in mentality" among the judiciary, "which does not happen
overnight."