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EU COMMISSION TO CONFRONT TURKEY ON FREE PRESS
http://euobserver.com/15/113869
10 Oct 2011
Relatedâ~@º Cyprus-Turkey gas dispute escalatesâ~@º Kosovo violence
threatens Serbia's EU bidâ~@º See no evil - EU approach is failing
the Albanian people By Andrew Rettman
The European Commission in its annual enlargement report will tell
Turkey to stop attacking investigative journalists and to back off
on Cyprus gas exploration.
The report, due to be published on Wednesday (12 October) and
seen by EUobserver, singles out Turkey in a general complaint about
attempts to gag independent reporting in the Western Balkans, saying:
"In Turkey, the legal framework does not yet sufficiently safeguard
freedom of expression. A very high number of cases are brought against
journalists and the number of journalists in detention is a concern."
In the chapter dealing with Turkey, it notes: "While substantial
progress has been made over the past 10 years, significant efforts are
required to guarantee fundamental rights in practice, in particular
freedom of expression."
With Ankara recently sending gunboats to accompany a Turkish ship
drilling for gas in waters claimed by EU member state Cyprus, it
"also urges the avoidance of any kind of threat, source of friction
or action that could damage good neighbourly relations."
Turkish reporters writing about sensitive issues, such as state links
to underground Islamist movements, Kurdish minority rights and the
1915 Armenian genocide, face prosecution and jail sentences under
anti-terrorism laws in actions that undermine the country's image as
a model Islamic democracy.
Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based NGO, in a survey earlier this
year noted that 60 journalists are in prison while 62 were tried in
media freedom cases in the first three months of this year.
Reporters Ahmet Sik and Nedim Seder have spent six months in prison
for looking into the Energekon case, the government's hunt-down of
people allegedly linked to an ultra-nationalist cabal run by military
officers. Authorities have also seized unpublished copies of Sik's book
on the subject, The Army of the Imam, and made it a criminal offence
to keep electronic versions of the manuscript on a computer hard drive.
Reporters Vedat Yildiz and Lokman Dayan in March received eight-year
suspended sentences for covering a pro-Kurdish demonstration in
southeast Turkey. Meanwhile, the decision in September to wrap up
the investigation into the 2007 murder of pro-Armenian writer Hrant
Dink is widely seen as an attempt to portray his young killer, Ogun
Samast, as a 'lone wolf' extremist while making sure suspected links
to government officials are not explored.
On Western Balkans enlargement, the draft European Commission report
does not say whether Brussels will recommend that Serbia gets formal
EU candidate status.
The decision is to be taken by the college of commissioners at the
last minute before it is published on Wednesday amid attempts to
pressure Belgrade to normalise day-to-day relations with Kosovo.
EUobserver has learned the commission will on Wednesday recommend
giving the status as a reward for Serbia handing over top war crimes
fugitives Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic to The Hague. But the award
will be made on the understanding Germany will in December block an
EU decision to start accession talks with Serbia due to its support
for ethnic Serb paramiltary groups and gangsters in north Kosovo.
Looking at the other Balkan EU aspirants, the report confirms that
Croatia "should" be able to join the EU on 1 July 2013 and holds up
Zagreb as "an incentive and catalyst [for pro-EU reforms] for the rest
of the region." But it adds EU officials will send special missions to
monitor its fight against high-level corruption and publish six-monthly
reports in the run-up to enlargement in a mechanism that could see
Brussels recommend EU countries put the accession process on hold.
Montenegro and Macedonia come top of the class in terms of progress on
reforms. But the commission does not say when the two EU candidates
can start accession talks. Albania is said to have made "limited
progress" amid a political deadlock over January's elections. Bosnia
is described as being in a state of "paralysis and confrontation"
between ethnic Serbs and Muslims with "lack of a common understanding
on the overall direction and future of the country."
The two special cases in the report - Iceland and Kosovo - stand
poles apart.
The commission notes that Iceland is more or less already an EU
country in terms of standards and that accession talks are making
"headway." But it notes that joining the EU "remains a controversial
issue" amid widespread belief Icelanders will reject the union when
it comes to a referendum on membership.
Kosovo, which has no prospects of joining the EU until all 27 member
states recognise it as a country, is depicted as an economic and
security basket case. The report notes that unemployment in the former
Serb province is the highest in Europe and that "much more needs to
be done to tackle organised crime and corruption."
It adds that Brussels "takes very seriously" allegations that its
prime minister, Hashim Thaci, ran an organised crime group 10 years
ago that cut out and sold the internal organs of Serb prisoners and
that continues to threaten the lives of potential witnesses in EU
attempts to investigate the case today.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
http://euobserver.com/15/113869
10 Oct 2011
Relatedâ~@º Cyprus-Turkey gas dispute escalatesâ~@º Kosovo violence
threatens Serbia's EU bidâ~@º See no evil - EU approach is failing
the Albanian people By Andrew Rettman
The European Commission in its annual enlargement report will tell
Turkey to stop attacking investigative journalists and to back off
on Cyprus gas exploration.
The report, due to be published on Wednesday (12 October) and
seen by EUobserver, singles out Turkey in a general complaint about
attempts to gag independent reporting in the Western Balkans, saying:
"In Turkey, the legal framework does not yet sufficiently safeguard
freedom of expression. A very high number of cases are brought against
journalists and the number of journalists in detention is a concern."
In the chapter dealing with Turkey, it notes: "While substantial
progress has been made over the past 10 years, significant efforts are
required to guarantee fundamental rights in practice, in particular
freedom of expression."
With Ankara recently sending gunboats to accompany a Turkish ship
drilling for gas in waters claimed by EU member state Cyprus, it
"also urges the avoidance of any kind of threat, source of friction
or action that could damage good neighbourly relations."
Turkish reporters writing about sensitive issues, such as state links
to underground Islamist movements, Kurdish minority rights and the
1915 Armenian genocide, face prosecution and jail sentences under
anti-terrorism laws in actions that undermine the country's image as
a model Islamic democracy.
Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based NGO, in a survey earlier this
year noted that 60 journalists are in prison while 62 were tried in
media freedom cases in the first three months of this year.
Reporters Ahmet Sik and Nedim Seder have spent six months in prison
for looking into the Energekon case, the government's hunt-down of
people allegedly linked to an ultra-nationalist cabal run by military
officers. Authorities have also seized unpublished copies of Sik's book
on the subject, The Army of the Imam, and made it a criminal offence
to keep electronic versions of the manuscript on a computer hard drive.
Reporters Vedat Yildiz and Lokman Dayan in March received eight-year
suspended sentences for covering a pro-Kurdish demonstration in
southeast Turkey. Meanwhile, the decision in September to wrap up
the investigation into the 2007 murder of pro-Armenian writer Hrant
Dink is widely seen as an attempt to portray his young killer, Ogun
Samast, as a 'lone wolf' extremist while making sure suspected links
to government officials are not explored.
On Western Balkans enlargement, the draft European Commission report
does not say whether Brussels will recommend that Serbia gets formal
EU candidate status.
The decision is to be taken by the college of commissioners at the
last minute before it is published on Wednesday amid attempts to
pressure Belgrade to normalise day-to-day relations with Kosovo.
EUobserver has learned the commission will on Wednesday recommend
giving the status as a reward for Serbia handing over top war crimes
fugitives Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic to The Hague. But the award
will be made on the understanding Germany will in December block an
EU decision to start accession talks with Serbia due to its support
for ethnic Serb paramiltary groups and gangsters in north Kosovo.
Looking at the other Balkan EU aspirants, the report confirms that
Croatia "should" be able to join the EU on 1 July 2013 and holds up
Zagreb as "an incentive and catalyst [for pro-EU reforms] for the rest
of the region." But it adds EU officials will send special missions to
monitor its fight against high-level corruption and publish six-monthly
reports in the run-up to enlargement in a mechanism that could see
Brussels recommend EU countries put the accession process on hold.
Montenegro and Macedonia come top of the class in terms of progress on
reforms. But the commission does not say when the two EU candidates
can start accession talks. Albania is said to have made "limited
progress" amid a political deadlock over January's elections. Bosnia
is described as being in a state of "paralysis and confrontation"
between ethnic Serbs and Muslims with "lack of a common understanding
on the overall direction and future of the country."
The two special cases in the report - Iceland and Kosovo - stand
poles apart.
The commission notes that Iceland is more or less already an EU
country in terms of standards and that accession talks are making
"headway." But it notes that joining the EU "remains a controversial
issue" amid widespread belief Icelanders will reject the union when
it comes to a referendum on membership.
Kosovo, which has no prospects of joining the EU until all 27 member
states recognise it as a country, is depicted as an economic and
security basket case. The report notes that unemployment in the former
Serb province is the highest in Europe and that "much more needs to
be done to tackle organised crime and corruption."
It adds that Brussels "takes very seriously" allegations that its
prime minister, Hashim Thaci, ran an organised crime group 10 years
ago that cut out and sold the internal organs of Serb prisoners and
that continues to threaten the lives of potential witnesses in EU
attempts to investigate the case today.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress