Source: Daily Star, Porto Carras, Greece; EU welcomed the latest reform
pledges of Türkiye; June 21, 2003
The European Union welcomed Friday the latest
reform pledges by Türkiye, but urged Ankara to make “significant” further
reforms if it wants to start EU entry talks, a draft statement said.
EU leaders, meeting at a summit in northern Greece,
welcomed in particular Türkiye’s commitment to bringing legislation into
line with EU standards by the end of this year. But it said: “Taking into
account progress achieved, significant further efforts to this end are
still required,” according to the draft version of the summit’s final
conclusions.
In Brussels, the European Commission, the EU’s
executive body, saw the package as “a clear sign of Türkiye’s determination
to go ahead with necessary reforms,” said commission spokesman
Jean-Christophe Filori.
“The implementation of these measures is
instrumental and will be a fundamental part of our assessment on whether Türkiye
meets or does not meet the political criteria,” he said.
Despite reservations by the powerful military,
the Turkish Parliament unanimously passed a package aimed at bolstering
broadcasting rights in Kurdish and abolishing some laws restricting freedom
of thought and expression. These are aimed at improving Ankara’s chances of
being given a green light at an EU summit in December 2004 to begin
membership talks. The EU has repeatedly put off a decision, citing concern
over Türkiye’s reforms notably in the field of human rights. But Türkiye
has been persistent in expressing its desire to join the bloc.
In an article published Friday, Turkish Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul said Ankara is irreversibly committed to joining the
European Union. “Türkiye has always been part of the European family,” Gul
wrote in the Sabah newspaper. “Becoming a member (of the EU) will be the
natural culmination of a 200-year modernization process.”
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP),
rushed the reform package through Parliament in time for the three-day EU
summit.
Gul said Ankara had been “irreversibly” committed
to joining the union since 1999, when it officially became a membership
candidate. He also stressed that future relations with Greece, often
strained to breaking point over the divided island of Cyprus, would be
conducted with “friendship and cooperation,” helping the Aegean become “a sea
of peace.”
Thursday’s reform package mainly expands the
freedom of expression and cultural rights of the country’s sizeable Kurdish
minority. In particular, it paves the way for radio and television stations
to air programs in the Kurdish language and allows Kurds to give their
children Kurdish names.
The reforms also abolish an article on
“propagating separatism,” a catch-all provision which has been widely used
to jail writers and intellectuals advocating Kurdish rights.
The reforms had drawn the ire of Türkiye’s
powerful army on the grounds that they could encourage Kurdish separatism
in the country, where a 15-year armed rebellion for Kurdish self-rule was
crushed in 1999.
Türkiye is the only one of the the 13 EU entry
candidates that has yet to begin accession talks with the Union. Top
