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AKP Hedges On Key EU Reform As Public Support For Accession Continue

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  • AKP Hedges On Key EU Reform As Public Support For Accession Continue

    AKP HEDGES ON KEY EU REFORM AS PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR ACCESSION CONTINUES TO FALL
    By Gareth Jenkins

    Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
    Jan 8 2008

    Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has
    announced plans to amend the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish
    Penal Code, that provides for custodial sentences for anyone who
    insults "Turkishness."

    The EU has repeatedly cited Article 301 as evidence of Turkey's
    failure to internalize the concept of freedom of expression, regarded
    as one of the prerequisites for eventual Turkish accession to the
    union. However, not only does the AKP's latest initiative appear
    half-hearted, recent polls suggest that support for EU membership
    among the Turkish population as a whole is continuing to decline.

    In recent years, Article 301 has been one of the main instruments
    used by the Turkish authorities to try to restrict freedom of
    expression. The vagueness of its ban on "insulting Turkishness"
    has meant that it has been used to try to suppress the expression
    of a wide range of dissenting opinion, from criticism of Turkish
    government institutions to opposing the official Turkish denial of an
    orchestrated campaign to kill Armenians during the latter years of the
    Ottoman Empire. In its current form, Article 301 provides for prison
    sentences of up to three years, with the punishment increased by 50%
    percent if the offence occurs outside Turkey and thus blackens the
    country's reputation in the eyes of the rest of the world.

    Although none of the nearly 100 journalists and intellectuals
    prosecuted under Article 301 in recent years has subsequently served
    time in prison, several have received suspended sentences. Perhaps
    more seriously, anyone prosecuted under Article 301 immediately
    becomes marked for a campaign of harassment and death threats
    from Turkish ultra-nationalists and can usually expect little
    protection from the Turkish police. It was the publicity surrounding
    his conviction under Article 301 that led to the assassination of
    Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink by a Turkish ultranationalist
    in January 2007. Other prominent Turkish intellectuals prosecuted
    under Article 301 include Orhan Pamuk, the winner of the 2007 Nobel
    Prize for Literature.

    The EU has long pressed Turkey to abolish Article 301 in its
    entirety. However, the latest draft amendment drawn up by the Justice
    Ministry makes merely minor adjustments, such as replacing the ban
    on insulting "Turkishness" with one on insulting the "Turkish nation"
    and reducing the maximum prison sentence from three to two years. But
    even these minor amendments have been vigorously resisted by the
    ultranationalist Nationalist Action Party (MHP), the third-largest
    party in parliament. "Everyone should resist the proposed amendment
    to 301," said Oktay Vurul, the deputy chair of the MHP parliamentary
    party (Radikal, January 8).

    The AKP government now appears to be having second thoughts as well.

    The draft amendment was originally expected to be raised at a meeting
    yesterday (January 7) of the Turkish Cabinet, prior to being presented
    to parliament for approval later this week. However, in a briefing
    for journalists after the meeting, Government Spokesperson Cemil Cicek
    confirmed that the changes to Article 301 had not been on the Cabinet
    meeting's agenda. He explained that the amendments would probably be
    submitted to parliament privately by a number of MPs rather than as
    a government proposal (Radikal, NTV, Milliyet, Vatan, January 8).

    The AKP's reluctance to amend Article 301 is indicative of a general
    lack of enthusiasm for any of the reforms required to revive Turkey's
    stalled EU accession process. But recent polls suggest that the
    AKP is merely reflecting a broader decline in enthusiasm for EU
    membership among the Turkish population as a whole. In September 2004,
    when the EU protested the AKP's proposals to criminalize adultery,
    even though he personally supported them, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
    Erdogan quickly shelved the proposed changes for fear of jeopardizing
    Turkey's prospects of opening official access negotiations. At the
    time, opinion polls suggested that 75-80% of the Turkish population
    favored the country joining the EU.

    But since accession negotiations were finally initiated in October
    2005, and both the AKP government and the Turkish people have begun
    to understand that membership will involve not only benefits but also
    sacrifices and the delegation of a measure of national sovereignty
    to Brussels, support for EU accession has fallen precipitously.

    According to the latest Barometer opinion poll, which is commissioned
    by European Commission in all member and candidate countries, in late
    fall 2007 only 49% of Turks thought that their country should join the
    EU. Just 25% of the Turks questioned trusted the EU, compared with 60%
    who did not, while trust in the European Commission itself stood at
    17%, down from 22% six months earlier. There was also a substantial
    decline in the proportion of Turks who believed that EU membership
    would benefit the country. In fall 2007, 53% of Turks thought that
    it would bring benefits, down nine percentage points from 62% in
    spring 2007.
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