Hürriyet, Turkey
Nov 29 2008

EU advises Turkey to hit European standards

ANKARA – EU calls for improvements on freedom of expression, minority
rights and civilian-military relations and encourages the government
to pass labor and union rights based on EU standards. Brussels also
monitors the country’s human rights record involving torture and cases
of ill treatment

The European Union on Friday pressed the government once more to sweep
in democratic reforms, the emphasis of a European Parliament report to
be discussed next week in Brussels.

"More should have been done" to improve freedom of expression,
minority rights and civilian-military relations, said the head of the
Turkish-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee in closing remarks at the end
of two-day meetings in Ankara.

Joost Lagendijk particularly urged the government to pass laws on
labor and trade unions rights based on European standards. Speaking of
May Day demonstrations in Istanbul’s Taksim Square each year, where
clashes between riot police and protesters regularly occur, he
expressed the EU’s hope that a new trade law would improve the rights
of trade unions in Turkey.

Monitoring human rights
"We hope that there will be compromise between the government and
trade unions after the law passes in Parliament," said Lagendijk.

He said the EU would continue monitoring the country’s human rights
record involving torture and ill treatment cases because, "human
rights are key part of democracy."

The recent death of Engin Ã?eber while in custody is an issue we
have been following, Lagendijk said. "We appreciate the apology of the
justice minister to the family of the victim." In the first public
statement of its kind last month, Justice Minister Mehmet Ali
Å?ahin accepted state responsibility in the case of
Ã?eber, who died from injuries he received at the Metris Prison
in Istanbul and apologized to the victim’s relatives.

The Turkish-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee discussed social
policies, unemployment, the role of trade unions and foreign policy
issues. Lagendijk welcomed the Turkish president’s visit to Armenia in
September as a "breakthrough" and stressed good relations between
Ankara and Yerevan would make a solution to the problems of
Nagorno-Karabakh and events of the past easier.

YaÅ?ar YakıÅ?, the Turkish chair of the joint
committee, said concerns had been conveyed to the EU over the council
framework decision combating racism, warning approval of the decision
that broadens the 1948 United Nations Convention on Genocide could be
abused.

One of the visiting officials from the European Parliament challenged
Turkey’s status as the only country in the world which blocked
"YouTube," in a written statement.

Richard Howitt, vice-president of the European Parliament’s human
rights sub-committee, said, "As a modern country looking forward to EU
membership, Turkey should be embracing new communications, rather than
putting itself in the same bracket as some of the world’s pariah
states."

He said the 1,000 Web sites that were blocked in Turkey put the
country alongside some of the world’s worst nations in cyber
censorship and called for legal reform, both in respect to freedom of
expression, and for the advancement of the country’s economic
interests.

The president of the European Parliament’s human rights sub-committee
asked a Turkish deputy if the rights of homosexuals and transsexuals
would be safeguarded in the constitution.

Helene Flautre held talks Thursday with Zafer Ã`skül, head
of Turkish Parliament’s Human Rights Commission. In response,
Ã`skül said time and patience was needed for improvement on
the issue. "I cannot say they are not experiencing any
problemsÃ?but some positive developments have been seen."

Opposition blamed
An interesting exchange of words took place between another member of
the European Parliament and ruling Justice and Development Party, or
AKP, deputy Abdurrahman Kurt.

MEP Sarah Ludford asked Kurt why the AKP had stalled reforms. Kurt
blamed the opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, for voting
down constitutional amendments and other democratic reforms. CHP’s
Malik Ecder Ã-zdemir, also present at the meeting, became angry and
said it was not appropriate to tell the European parliamentarian the
CHP was preventing reforms.