PanARMENIAN.Net

BILGESAM tries to find new ways for Turkey on its way to EU
08.03.2009 01:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Wise Men Center for Strategic Studies
(BÄ°LGESAM) in Turkey, a think tank formed by retired soldiers,
ambassadors and academics, called for the preparation of a new
civilian constitution and enactment of judicial reforms to overcome
future challenges in a report made public.

The think tank’s report on Turkey’s current situation and future
challenges was penned by retired Ambassador Ä°lter
Türkmen, a former foreign minister, with contributions by
BİLGESAM Chairman Atilla Sandıklı, former Supreme
Court of Appeals President Sami Selçuk and retired Ambassador
Ã-zdem Sanberk. The report underlined that Turkey urgently needed
to reform its judicial system to eliminate its current flaws, to take
sound steps on the path toward full membership in the European Union,
to adopt a new civilian constitution to replace the current one, which
was prepared under military rule, and to provide its citizens with
broader rights, Today’s Zaman reports.

`Turkey has long been the target of harsh criticism from the EU due to
violations of freedom of expression and religion, which has made
judicial reform a must for the country. … Reforms implemented so far
as part of the EU accession process have not managed to eliminate all
the flaws of our democracy. The latest annual report on Turkey’s
progress toward full EU membership showed that little progress had
been made over the past year, raising serious concerns about freedom
of expression, the independence of the judiciary and the military’s
interference in politics, among other issues,’ read the
BÄ°LGESAM report.

The report said that because recent amendments made to the current
Constitution, which was drafted under military rule in the wake of the
Sept. 12, 1980 coup, have not adequately met the needs of the Turkish
nation, it is necessary to replace it with a new one.

The report also stressed that a recent amendment to the notorious
Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) was superficial and had
cleared the way for new problems. The article, under which a number of
intellectuals and activists have been tried for `insulting
Turkishness,’ was amended last May.

`Keeping all these flaws in mind, judicial reforms should ensure,
first of all, that the principles of justice are internalized in a way
that would not lead to misinterpretation. The judiciary should not be
open to subjectivity, and its members should refrain from making
rulings based on their own ideologies,’ the report went on to say.