Issue No. 598
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8 - 14 August 2002 Issue No. 598 Region |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Free as a European
The Turkish parliament has adopted a set of sweeping democratic reforms considered vital for the country's bid to join the European Union, reports Gareth Jenkins from Ankara
Spurred by the fear of early elections, Turkish parliamentarians last week put an end to months of delay by meeting in an emergency session to pass a sweeping series of reforms required by Brussels as preconditions for opening negotiations on Turkey's membership to the European Union (EU).
In a marathon 22-hour session that started on Friday and finished in the early hours of Saturday morning, the Turkish parliament approved 14 legislative amendments ranging from the abolition of the death penalty in peacetime to the easing of censorship and stiffer penalties for people-smuggling. Members of parliament (MPs) also voted to relax the ban on broadcasting and education in Kurdish, proposing an end to a situation in which the learning of English, German, French and Arabic was allowed but teaching a language spoken by approximately 20 per cent of the population was an imprisonable offence.
"Turkey is now more free, more democratic and more European," Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit told the state- owned television channel TRT 1 on Sunday. "Turkey now expects the EU to grant it full membership in the shortest possible time."
Turkish officials insist that the EU must now set a date for the opening of membership negotiations at its next summit in Copenhagen in December of this year. But the speed with which the reforms were finally passed has raised questions about the politicians' motivation.
"These reforms should have been passed anyway for the benefit of the Turkish people, not just to try to get into the EU," said veteran journalist Mehmet Ali Birand.
Before parliament voted late last month to hold early elections on 3 November, the government consistently avoided bringing the reforms to parliament. But opinion polls suggest that 60- 70 per cent of Turks favour EU membership -- believing that it would increase prosperity and raise the levels of basic services such as education and health care. Opinion polls also suggest that, with the exception of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (JDP) and the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Action Party (NAP), the remaining political parties will have difficulty winning the minimum 10 per cent of the vote required for representation in parliament. Few can risk going to the polls while facing accusations that they sacrificed the country's future by blocking the reforms required for EU membership.
However, the NAP remains an exception; it was the only party to vote against the reform package and has consistently resisted allowing Kurdish broadcasting and education. In the most recent election in April 1999, the NAP built its campaign on a promise to execute Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). In an often heated debate, NAP deputies bluntly accused supporters of the EU reform package of collaborating with the PKK and trying to spare Ocalan's life.
"Abolishing the death penalty will lead to Ocalan being pardoned and soon becoming an MP," declared the NAP's Mehmet Gul.
NAP Chairman Devlet Bahceli has sworn to begin procedures in the courts to block the reforms.
The main editorial in the NAP's newspaper Ortadogu accused those who supported the reforms of deceiving the Turkish people.
"Let us see if they can get a date for the beginning of accession talks from the EU", said the editorial. "The EU will just produce new reasons to stop us joining." The NAP may have a convincing argument. The elections will be held before the EU announces a decision on whether or not to begin accession negotiations. But EU officials are already insisting that implementation is more important than proposed new laws. "Torture has always been outlawed in Turkey, but has that prevented it?" asked a Western diplomat.
Significantly, most of the laws in the reform package require enabling decrees before they can be implemented -- a process which is expected to take at least three months. Similarly, there are a number of other laws, such as those against "separatist propaganda", which have been used in the past to restrict the use of the Kurdish language. In addition, the reform package did not address other EU concerns, such as the role played by the Turkish military in domestic politics.
"The reforms are a step in the right direction", said one EU diplomat. "But there is still a long way to go before Turkey meets the criteria for membership. And it is totally unrealistic to expect the EU to set a date for the beginning of negotiations during Copenhagen."
Ironically, last week's reforms could end up damaging, rather than strengthening, Turkey's relations with the EU. Ties are already coming under strain as anticipation grows regarding Brussels's expected announcement on the proposed membership of the Republic of Cyprus. This announcement is expected to come before a political solution can be found, a move which Ankara has warned could persuade it to annex the Turkish Cypriot- administered northern part of the island.
Cypriot accession and the realisation that the EU has no immediate plans to begin full membership negotiations with Ankara are likely to trigger a massive anti-EU backlash inside Turkey, particularly as Turks are now being told by their leaders that the country has done everything the EU has asked of it. The only question is whether this backlash will occur before or after the 3 November polls.
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