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Javno.hr, Croatia
Sept 8 2007
EU Presses Turkey for Quick Progress on Reform
The European Union pressed Turkey on Saturday for immediate progress
to improve freedom of expression and religion.
Reuters The European Union pressed Turkey on Saturday for immediate
progress to improve freedom of expression and religion following the
re-election of the pro-European AK party.
But new Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan made clear there were no
early plans to amend or abolish a penal code clause used to prosecute
intellectuals and journalists, saying it would be addressed in a
planned new constitution.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the EU candidate had
overcome remarkably smoothly a political and institutional crisis
unleashed in April when its powerful military warned it could
intervene to defend Turkey's secular order.
The armed forces' statement was seen as an attempt to block the
election of former Islamist AK candidate Abdullah Gul as president.
But the outcome was a sweeping victory for the AK party in early
general elections in July, and Gul's election as president by the new
parliament last week.
"I don't only hope but I expect the government will immediately
relaunch the reform process, especially as regards freedom of
expression and religious freedom so that they can ... prove that they
are making serious progress," Rehn told a news conference.
He welcomed the fact that the new administration had put EU accession
and the necessary reforms at the top of its agenda.
Babacan refused to be pinned down on amending article 301 of the
penal code, which punishes "insulting Turkishness" and has been used
to prosecute writers who urged Turkey to face up to the mass killing
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915.
"I don't want to talk about a specific article of a specific law
right now, but we are now working on a new constitutional framework
which is going to be in line with the Copenhagen criteria," he said,
referring to the EU's membership conditions on democracy, human
rights and the rule of law.
EU officials have said that unless Turkey shows quick progress, it is
bound to receive a negative annual progress report from the European
Commission in November, since election campaigning took precedence
over reform for most of the year.
Babacan, who had a private meeting with Rehn on the sidelines of an
EU foreign ministers' meeting in Portugal, shrugged off that
prospect, calling the report "an outsider's view" and saying what
mattered were the reforms Turkey carried out for its own sake.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has opposed Turkey, a populous,
poor, secular but overwhelmingly Muslim country on the edge of Europe
and the Middle East, becoming an EU member.
But he agreed last week to allow negotiations on most policy areas to
proceed provided the EU appoints a panel of wise people in December
to consider the future shape and borders of Europe.
Rehn said the EU had just had a lengthy debate on its enlargement
agenda and reached consensus at a summit last year, but a group of
wise people could reflect on the EU's regional relationships with the
Mediterranean area and northern Europe.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Sept 8 2007
EU Presses Turkey for Quick Progress on Reform
The European Union pressed Turkey on Saturday for immediate progress
to improve freedom of expression and religion.
Reuters The European Union pressed Turkey on Saturday for immediate
progress to improve freedom of expression and religion following the
re-election of the pro-European AK party.
But new Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan made clear there were no
early plans to amend or abolish a penal code clause used to prosecute
intellectuals and journalists, saying it would be addressed in a
planned new constitution.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the EU candidate had
overcome remarkably smoothly a political and institutional crisis
unleashed in April when its powerful military warned it could
intervene to defend Turkey's secular order.
The armed forces' statement was seen as an attempt to block the
election of former Islamist AK candidate Abdullah Gul as president.
But the outcome was a sweeping victory for the AK party in early
general elections in July, and Gul's election as president by the new
parliament last week.
"I don't only hope but I expect the government will immediately
relaunch the reform process, especially as regards freedom of
expression and religious freedom so that they can ... prove that they
are making serious progress," Rehn told a news conference.
He welcomed the fact that the new administration had put EU accession
and the necessary reforms at the top of its agenda.
Babacan refused to be pinned down on amending article 301 of the
penal code, which punishes "insulting Turkishness" and has been used
to prosecute writers who urged Turkey to face up to the mass killing
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915.
"I don't want to talk about a specific article of a specific law
right now, but we are now working on a new constitutional framework
which is going to be in line with the Copenhagen criteria," he said,
referring to the EU's membership conditions on democracy, human
rights and the rule of law.
EU officials have said that unless Turkey shows quick progress, it is
bound to receive a negative annual progress report from the European
Commission in November, since election campaigning took precedence
over reform for most of the year.
Babacan, who had a private meeting with Rehn on the sidelines of an
EU foreign ministers' meeting in Portugal, shrugged off that
prospect, calling the report "an outsider's view" and saying what
mattered were the reforms Turkey carried out for its own sake.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has opposed Turkey, a populous,
poor, secular but overwhelmingly Muslim country on the edge of Europe
and the Middle East, becoming an EU member.
But he agreed last week to allow negotiations on most policy areas to
proceed provided the EU appoints a panel of wise people in December
to consider the future shape and borders of Europe.
Rehn said the EU had just had a lengthy debate on its enlargement
agenda and reached consensus at a summit last year, but a group of
wise people could reflect on the EU's regional relationships with the
Mediterranean area and northern Europe.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress