EP URGES TOP COURT TO RESPECT RULE OF LAW

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
April 23 2008

The European Parliament has voiced concern over implications of
an ongoing closure case against Turkey’s ruling party while urging
respect for the rule of law and European standards.

Last month Turkey’s Constitutional Court decided unanimously to hear
an appeal from a top prosecutor to close Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on charges that
it had become a "focal point for anti-secular activities."

The prosecutor has also sought a five-year ban from party politics
for 71 politicians, including Erdogan and former AK Party member
President Abdullah Gul. The EU, which Turkey aspires to join, has
harshly criticized the case and even warned accession talks with
Turkey could come to a halt if the AK Party is closed down in the end.

The committee is "concerned about the implications of the AK Party
closure case," a non-binding resolution approved late on Monday
almost unanimously by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European
Parliament in Strasbourg said.

The resolution followed on from a progress report on Turkey’s EU
accession bid last year by the executive European Commission. The
committee "expects the Turkish Constitutional Court to respect
principles of the rule of law, European standards and the Venice
Commission guidelines on the prohibition of political parties,"
the resolution also said.

"Turkey should show that it wants to continue its full membership
negotiations with the EU by making reforms," the report’s author
and negotiator, Dutch MEP Ria Oomen Ruijten, was quoted as saying
yesterday at a press conference by the Anatolia news agency. Not only
the government, but all political parties represented in Parliament
are responsible for working for more reforms, Oomen Ruijten added.

The report urged Turkey’s Parliament to reform "without delay" penal
code Article 301, which prohibits "insulting Turkishness" and which
has been used against hundreds of intellectuals and journalists,
including slain Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink and Nobel
literature laureate Orhan Pamuk.

It said that an amendment to 301 that would replace "insulting
Turkishness" by "insulting the Turkish nation" was "merely a first
step toward a fundamental reform of this article."

It deplored that Turkish prosecution of people who expressed
non-violent opinions increased in 2007. Turkey started EU accession
talks in 2005, but talks have been held back by slow progress in
EU-linked reforms, the impact of the unresolved Cyprus dispute and
the reluctance of some EU members, such as France and Austria, to
see Turkey join.

The European Parliament resolution was passed by 53 votes to two,
with four abstentions, an official of the parliament said. It is to be
debated in a full session in May. Parliament can make recommendations
on foreign policy, although these are not binding on the 27 EU
member states.

"It is a message to Turkey: they have to deliver now," Oomen Ruijten
told Reuters earlier. "They promised 2008 would be the year of the
reforms, so I will keep them to their promise."

Erdogan vowed last Tuesday to speed up political reforms after
stalling for more than a year amid opposition from nationalist
parties. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso visited
Turkey last week and urged it to speed up reforms and show more
interest in EU membership. He stressed EU concerns over the move
against the AK Party, which the commission has said could jeopardize
Turkey’s EU entry talks.