FACTBOX-TURKEY HAS ADOPTED SWATHE OF EU-INSPIRED REFORMS

Reuters
10/02/05 07:21 ET

Turkey is due to begin European Union membership talks on Oct. 3 after
carrying out a series of political and human rights reforms to fulfil
EU criteria.

Here is a summary of the main reforms Turkey has introduced over the
past few years as part of its drive for EU membership.

DEATH PENALTY

– Turkey’s parliament abolished capital punishment in peacetime in
August 2002 and removed all residual references to the death penalty,
including in time of war, last year.

Parliament’s move brought a reprieve for Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah
Ocalan, who was captured in 1999 and is now serving a life sentence
on an island near Istanbul.

MINORITY RIGHTS

– Turkey removed bans on Kurdish-language broadcasting and instruction
in 2002 but bureaucratic resistance delayed their implementation. In
June 2004, state TV and radio began regular, albeit limited,
programming in Turkey’s two main Kurdish dialects and several other
minority languages.

For decades Turkey denied the very existence of its Kurdish minority,
referring to them as “mountain Turks”. Kurdish is an Indo-European
language unrelated to Turkish.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS

– Turkey banned sexual discrimination under constitutional amendments
approved in May 2004. A new penal code sets tougher penalties for
those convicted of rape and also of “honour killings”, which involve
the killing of women by male relatives — for example for giving
birth outside wedlock — to protect the family name. The government
is also encouraging families in rural, conservative areas to send
their daughters to school.

TORTURE

– Turkey has outlawed all forms of torture and imposed tougher
penalties for it, ranging from three to 12 years in jail. Some rights
activists say torture remains widespread and systematic, charges the
government strongly denies.

ROLE OF MILITARY

– Turkey’s powerful generals have lost some influence through reforms
of the once-mighty National Security Council, (MGK) now reduced to
an advisory body. Parliament has also gained control of the military
budget. Last year, the government scrapped State Security Courts —
a vestige of the military-inspired constitution which followed a
1980 coup. The courts were used to try political and security-related
crimes.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS

– Turkey has moved to ease bureaucratic restrictions on minority
non-Muslim religious groups, though some — including the head of the
world’s Orthodox Christians, Istanbul-based Patriarch Bartholomew —
still complain of administrative obstacles. The government is still
weighing whether to allow the reopening of an Orthodox Christian
seminary near Istanbul, shut in 1971 under a law limiting activities
at post-secondary religious schools, including Muslim ones.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

– Turkey has relaxed a number of restrictions on freedom of thought
and expression, though rights activists say the new penal code still
contains too many loopholes. For example, internationally renowned
Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk faces the possibility of up to three years
in jail for backing allegations that Armenians suffered genocide at
Ottoman Turkish hands 90 years ago. The first hearing in his case is
set for Dec. 16.