EU TRIES TO DEFUSE LOOMING CRISIS WITH TURKEY
By Paul Taylor, European Affairs Editor
Reuters, UK
Nov 6 2006
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union sought on Monday to defuse a
looming crisis with Turkey over Cyprus and lagging reforms, welcoming
a pledge to amend a key law on freedom of expression in line with
EU standards.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan announced the policy shift on Sunday,
three days before a European Commission report expected to sharply
criticise Turkey, saying he was ready to change a law used to prosecute
writers for "insulting Turkishness".
"The stated intention by Prime Minister (Tayyip) Erdogan to bring
Turkish legislation on freedom of expression into line with European
standards is a welcome initiative," EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli
Rehn said in a statement.
"It shows that the Turkish prime minister is personally committed to
free speech and EU accession," Rehn said.
The EU executive is to issue a progress report on Wednesday criticising
a slowdown in reforms in the year since Turkey began EU membership
talks and noting Ankara’s failure to meet a requirement to open its
ports to shipping from Cyprus.
Diplomats say the negative findings could prompt EU leaders to suspend,
at least partially, accession negotiations with Turkey when they hold
a summit on enlargement in mid-December.
But German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose country
takes over the EU’s rotating presidency in January, warned against
any premature move to break off the talks.
"I would strongly urge that in our interests and in the interests of
Turkey, we not be overly hasty in our conclusions. We ought to leave
scope … for a political compromise between Turkish interests and
the interests of the Cypriots," he told a conference of the Party of
European Socialists in Berlin.
That appeared to contradict Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said in
an interview with Monday’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily that Turkey’s
EU accession talks would be in serious trouble unless Ankara lifted
trade restrictions against Cyprus.
"CONCRETE DEEDS" SOUGHT
The Commission has repeatedly urged Turkey to amend article 301 of
the penal code used to prosecute journalists and intellectuals such
as Nobel literature prizewinner Orhan Pamuk over comments on the
killing of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.
Only last week, Erdogan appeared to rule out any change, with an eye
on nationalist voters ahead of elections next year.
But in a timely move to show goodwill, he said on Sunday: "We are
ready for proposals to make the article 301 more concrete if there
are problems stemming from it being vague."
"We are studying several options for how we can handle article 301
in harmony with the spirit of the (EU-oriented) reforms," he said,
without elaborating.
Rehn sounded a note of caution, saying Brussels wanted to see
practical action.
"We expect this stated intention to be followed by concrete deeds
and we are thus waiting for concrete decisions," he said.
Rehn said pressure for a change in the penal code also reflected
the growing strength of Turkish civil society, which was a welcome
development.
The Commission is also expected to criticise shortcomings in the
rights of religious and ethnic minorities, civilian control over the
military and persistent instances of torture.
It will praise economic reforms, the training of more judges and the
creation of an ombudsman to probe citizens’ complaints.
Mustafa Alper, general secretary of Turkey’s International Investors’
Association, said financial markets were quite relaxed about the
possibility of a crisis with the EU.
"I do not think the (Commission) report will greatly spoil Turkish
morale … Cyprus will come to the agenda again, but I do not think
the report will create a lot of problems or tensions," he told Reuters
in an interview in Istanbul.
"I see the likelihood of Turkey’s negotiations being suspended as
rather remote," Alper said.
(Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Istanbul and Louis
Charbonneau in Berlin)