EU SAYS TURKEY MUST IMPROVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Deutsche Welle
,2144,281 1761,00.html
Oct 7 2007
Germany

Turkey has inched closer to the EU but still needs to pass a key reform

Brussels has stepped up pressure on EU candidate Turkey to speed up
its reform process and in particular move ahead with laws ensuring
freedoms of religion and expression.

Four weeks before the EU Commission issues a progress report on Turkey,
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn called on recently-elected
Turkish President Abdullah Gul to keep his country firmly on the
reform track.

"I expect that he (Gul) leads the transformation process and ensures
that fundamental freedoms exist in all aspects of life and in all
corners of Turkey," Rehn told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag on
Sunday, Oct. 7.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
Olli Rehn wants Turkey to step up the pace of its reform drive He
assured Ankara that the EU’s upcoming progress report on Turkey would
be "fair and balanced."

Turkey implemented several reforms to win the green light for EU
accession talks in October 2005. The country has said it remains
fully committed to joining the European Union.

But the country’s EU bid has been marred by Ankara’s refusal last
year to grant trade privileges to Cyprus as well as flagging efforts
to push laws guaranteeing freedom of expression.

The latter is expected to take center stage in November’s EU progress
report with little sign that Turkey is pursuing an amendment or
withdrawal of article 301, which can be used to prosecute writers for
"insulting Turkishness."

Prosecution of writers "not acceptable"

"It is a human and moral issue. It is not acceptable that writers
like Orhan Pamuk and Elif Safak are prosecuted based on this article,"
Rehn told Turkish television station, NTVMSNBC.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
Pamuk was tried for speaking about the Armenian massacre Before the
case against him was dropped, Pamuk was tried in Turkey last year for
telling a Swiss newspaper that 1 million Armenians had died in Turkey
during World War One and 30,000 Kurds had died in recent decades.

Critics of the controversial article also say that Turkish Armenian
editor and journalist Hrant Dink was murdered last year after being
singled out because of his prosecution under the law.

Recent efforts by Turkey’s ruling party to change the country’s
constitution also should not delay reforms in expanding freedoms of
expression and religion, Rehn added.

"The changes (to the constitution) can be a method for expanding
fundamental rights and freedoms. But the preparations should not
delay the realization of freedoms of expression or religion," he said.

Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has previously said the
constitution will strengthen individual rights and freedoms, but
Turkish officials say article 301 will not be revised or overwritten
in the new document.

Brussels softening stance towards Turkey?

Despite Turkey’s faltering reform drive last year, there are signs
that Brussels is softening its attitude towards the large EU candidate
and its new political leadership.

This week, a draft resolution on Turkey’s reform process was passed
in the European Parliament without much criticism.

Last week, EU parliamentarians were also confronted with a study
released by the Italian Institute for International Affairs and a
Turkish foundation which concluded that the debate over Turkey’s EU
membership was often marked by prejudices.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Turkey has largely been perceived as a country
influenced by Islam, an attitude that has ignored the nation’s secular
traditions, the study’s authors said.

–Boundary_(ID_f6NnwwVeGGEmY+j2oODZUQ)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress