Reuters UK
Sept 6 2008
EU urges Turkey to break cycle of political crisis
Sat Sep 6, 2008 1:29am BST
By Paul Taylor
AVIGNON, France (Reuters) – The European Union urged Turkey on Friday
to break out of a cycle of political crisis by enacting reforms to
prepare for EU membership, and praised its regional peacemaking role.
The 27-nation bloc’s Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn urged Turkish
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan to resume EU reforms at full speed after
the government survived an attempt by hardline secular prosecutors to
shut down the ruling AK party.
The Constitutional Court last month narrowly failed to reach the
necessary majority to ban the party, which has its roots in political
Islam, after months of uncertainty which shook Turkish markets and the
lira currency.
"We have urged Turkey to reform the law on political parties as a
matter of urgency to avoid this sort of severe political crisis in the
future," Rehn told Reuters after the two men met on the sidelines of
an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in France.
They also discussed the conflict in Georgia and Turkey’s proposals for
a platform to stabilise the Caucasus region, and its efforts to
mediate in Israeli-Syrian peace talks.
"Turkey’s active diplomacy towards Syria, the Middle East, Armenia and
the Caucasus show its paramount importance as our partner in advancing
regional stability in one of the most unstable parts of the world,"
Rehn said.
The EU accession process would further facilitate joint work by the EU
and Turkey to stabilise those regions, he said.
REFORM AGENDA
Babacan said he outlined Turkey’s plans to take forward its EU
accession process, which has been stymied by disputes over Cyprus and
resistance by France to the goal of eventual Turkish membership of the
bloc.
He said Turkey expected to open negotiations on two more policy areas
with the EU under the current French presidency of the bloc, which
lasts till the end of the year, taking the total number of subjects
under discussion to 10 out of the 35 chapters into which EU law is
divided.
Babacan said Turkey was fully prepared to start talks on a range of
other issues, including economic and monetary policy, energy,
education and culture, and foreign policy, but was being blocked by
political obstacles in the EU.
Despite the political crisis, the Turkish parliament passed 29
EU-related laws in the session that ended in July, and a national
programme for EU convergence would be submitted to parliament when it
returns from recess on October 7, he said.
"We know very well what is expected from us and what we need to do
anyway. We have every reason to push ahead with our reform agenda,"
the minister told Reuters in an interview.
Rehn said he encouraged the Turkish government to improve political
dialogue with opposition forces so that more reforms could be enacted
by consensus. He has urged Ankara to finally enact an EU-driven law
introducing an ombudsman, which could take some of the sting out of
religious-secular issues.
(Editing by Ingrid Melander and Mark Trevelyan)