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  • BILGESAM tries to find new ways for Turkey on its way to EU

    PanARMENIAN.Net

    BILGESAM tries to find new ways for Turkey on its way to EU
    08.03.2009 01:52 GMT+04:00

    /PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Wise Men Center for Strategic Studies
    (BÄ°LGESAM) in Turkey, a think tank formed by retired soldiers,
    ambassadors and academics, called for the preparation of a new
    civilian constitution and enactment of judicial reforms to overcome
    future challenges in a report made public.

    The think tank's report on Turkey's current situation and future
    challenges was penned by retired Ambassador Ä°lter
    Türkmen, a former foreign minister, with contributions by
    BİLGESAM Chairman Atilla Sandıklı, former Supreme
    Court of Appeals President Sami Selçuk and retired Ambassador
    Ã-zdem Sanberk. The report underlined that Turkey urgently needed
    to reform its judicial system to eliminate its current flaws, to take
    sound steps on the path toward full membership in the European Union,
    to adopt a new civilian constitution to replace the current one, which
    was prepared under military rule, and to provide its citizens with
    broader rights, Today's Zaman reports.

    `Turkey has long been the target of harsh criticism from the EU due to
    violations of freedom of expression and religion, which has made
    judicial reform a must for the country. ... Reforms implemented so far
    as part of the EU accession process have not managed to eliminate all
    the flaws of our democracy. The latest annual report on Turkey's
    progress toward full EU membership showed that little progress had
    been made over the past year, raising serious concerns about freedom
    of expression, the independence of the judiciary and the military's
    interference in politics, among other issues,' read the
    BÄ°LGESAM report.

    The report said that because recent amendments made to the current
    Constitution, which was drafted under military rule in the wake of the
    Sept. 12, 1980 coup, have not adequately met the needs of the Turkish
    nation, it is necessary to replace it with a new one.

    The report also stressed that a recent amendment to the notorious
    Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) was superficial and had
    cleared the way for new problems. The article, under which a number of
    intellectuals and activists have been tried for `insulting
    Turkishness,' was amended last May.

    `Keeping all these flaws in mind, judicial reforms should ensure,
    first of all, that the principles of justice are internalized in a way
    that would not lead to misinterpretation. The judiciary should not be
    open to subjectivity, and its members should refrain from making
    rulings based on their own ideologies,' the report went on to say.
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