EU RELEASES 2009 PROGRESS REPORT FOR TURKEY (1)

Referring to the "Ergenekon" case, the Commission said, "this is the first case in Turkey to probe into a coup attempt and the most extensive investigation ever on an alleged criminal network aiming at destabilising the democratic institutions. Ammunition and weapons were discovered in the course of the investigation. Furthermore, for the first time a former Chief of Staff testified voluntarily as a witness."
"This case is an opportunity for Turkey to strengthen confidence in the proper functioning of its democratic institutions and the rule of law," it said.
Last year, the Commission refrained from making any comments about the "Ergenekon" case in its Progress Report.

-EU'S EXPECTATIONS ABOUT A CIVIL CONSTITUTION"

Reiterating its support to the works to prepare a "civil constitution", the Commission said, "the political and societal debate on constitutional reform continued. There is a growing awareness in the country that Turkey's Constitution, drafted in the aftermath of the 1980 military coup, needs to be amended in order to allow further democratisation in a number of areas and give stronger guarantees of fundamental freedoms in line with EU standards. These include, for example, rules on political parties, institution of an Ombudsman, use of languages other than Turkish and enhancement of trade union rights."
"However, no consensus could be reached between political parties on constitutional reform. There was no follow-up to the draft constitutional reforms prepared in 2008 by a group of academics. Despite numerous announcements, the government did not put forward any proposal for amending the Constitution, nor did it propose any methodological approach, based on consultation, to that end," it said.
Recalling that the Turkish parliament, in June 2009, passed legislation providing for civilian courts to try military personnel in peacetime, the Commission said, "the new legislation lifted the remaining powers of military courts to try civilians in peacetime, thus aligning Turkey with EU practices."
"The government amended the Regulation on the Organization and Duties of the Gendarmerie in March 2009. The new regulation clarifies the powers of the police and gendarmerie in urban and rural areas," it said.  

-EU EULOGIZES TURKISH PRESIDENT-

The Commission eulogized President Abdullah Gul, "against the background of a confrontational political climate between the main political parties, the President made efforts to promote dialogue between political parties and civil society as well as sound operation of the State bodies."
It said that President Gul repeatedly recalled the importance of Turkey's accession process and called for an acceleration of EU-related reforms.
"The President continued to play an active role in foreign policy and travelled extensively abroad. His trip to Iraq, the first of a Turkish President for 33 years, contributed to a positive atmosphere as regards the Kurdish issue," it said.

-GOVERNMENT-

In the Progress Report, the Commission praised the Turkish government for adopting the National Program and appointing a "full-time" EU chief negotiator with the status of state minister.  
"Egemen Bagis streamlined preparations and improved inter-ministerial coordination as regards accession negotiations. Furthermore, he convened meetings with stakeholders, including civil society, thus promoting participation in, and a better understanding of the negotiation process," it said.
"The European Union Secretariat-General (EUSG), Turkey's main coordination body for EU affairs, was placed under the EU Chief Negotiator. The latter prepared a law, adopted in June, granting the EUSG wider and clearer responsibilities. The Reform Monitoring Group – made up of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, State Minister and EU Negotiator, Justice and the Interior –met more regularly, i.e. every two months, after the Cabinet reshuffle. The Group provided strong support to the process of reforms. However, these efforts need to translate into more concrete progress. Despite the government's strong popular mandate and large majority in parliament, overall limited concrete progress was made on political reforms," it said.

-CIVILIAN-MILITARY RELATIONS-

The Commission said in the Progress Report, "the armed forces have continued to exercise undue political influence via formal and informal mechanisms. Senior members of the armed forces have expressed on a large number of occasions their views on domestic and foreign policy issues going beyond their remit, including on Cyprus, ethnicity, the South-East, secularism, political parties and other nonmilitary matters."
"On a number of occasions, the General Staff reacted publicly to politicians and media reports. During a press briefing in April, the Chief of General Staff made comments on the Ergenekon case and on the indictment, thus putting the judiciary under pressure. Some senior members of the armed forces lent support to military personnel standing trial," it said.  
Referring to an investigation into extra-judicial executions in the South-East in the 1990's led to the arrest of a Gendarmerie serving colonel, Cemal Temizoz, the Commission said, "No change has been made to the Turkish Armed Forces Internal Service Law or to the Law on the National Security Council. These define the roles and duties of the Turkish military and grant the military wide room for manoeuvre by providing a broad definition of national security. The 1997 EMASYA secret protocol on security, public order and assistance units remains in force."
"Some progress has been made, in particular on limiting the jurisdiction of military courts. However, senior members of the armed forces have made statements on issues going beyond their remit, and full parliamentary oversight of defence expenditure needs to be ensured. The alleged involvement of military personnel in anti-government activities, disclosed by the investigation on Ergenekon, raises serious concerns," it said.

-JUDICIAL SYSTEM-

The Commission said in its Progress report, "concerns remain about the independence, impartiality and efficiency of the judiciary. Senior members of the judiciary, of the military and of an association of judges and prosecutors have made statements which are likely to put the impartiality of the judiciary at risk in important cases.
The Commission said that the dismissal of the civilian prosecutor previously in charge of the Semdinli case raised questions about the independence of the High Council.
The Commission welcomed the adoption by the government of the judicial reform strategy following a process of consultation with all stakeholders is a positive step and encouraged that these efforts need to be continued, and concerns remain with regard to the independence, impartiality and effectiveness of the judiciary.  
"The case for closure of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), which was opened in November 2007 by the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation, is still pending before the Constitutional Court. On 14 March 2009 the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe published its opinion on the Turkish legislation governing the closure of political parties. It concluded that Articles 68 and 69 of the Constitution and the relevant provisions of the Law on Political Parties form a system which, as a whole, is incompatible with Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to freedom of assembly and association)4. The Turkish authorities have not yet amended the legislation accordingly."

-YSK'S DECISIONS-

The Commission criticized the Supreme Board of Elections' (YSK) decisions which had negative repercussions on the exercise of voting rights by the disabled.
The Commission said that elections of municipal, special provincial administration and village and neighbourhood councils were held throughout Turkey on March, 29 2009. "The elections were free and fair, with a voter turn-out of over 85 percent, underscoring the electorate's trust in the electoral process."

-FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION-

The report read, "the Turkish legal framework still fails to provide sufficient guarantees for exercising freedom of expression and, as a result, is often interpreted in a restrictive way by public prosecutors and judges. There are still some prosecutions and convictions based on Article 301. Furthermore, a number of other provisions of the Turkish Criminal Code are used to restrict freedom of expression, particularly as regards offences against dignity (Articles 125 to 131 of the TCC), public order (Articles 214, 216, 217, 218, 220), state security (Article 305), the constitutional order (Articles 312 and 314) and obscenity (Article 226)."
"In addition, prosecutions and convictions continue on the basis of Article 318 of the TCC (on discouraging people from military service), the Law on Crimes against Ataturk, and the Law on Accepting and Applying the Turkish Alphabet. This legal uncertainty puts journalists, writers, publishers, politicians, academics and others at risk of investigation, prosecution, conviction and imprisonment and could therefore result in self-censorship.
"A petition signed by 200 Turkish intellectuals to denounce 'the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915' and to apologize to the Armenians was launched on the internet. About 30,000 signatures were collected for this campaign, which sparked a wide debate, including in mainstream media. Furthermore, intense debates took place in the media on other topics perceived as sensitive by Turkish public opinion, such as the Kurdish issue, minority rights in general, the role of the military and Ataturk's legacy," it said.
Referring to the tax fines against the Dogan holding, the Commission said, "there are two tax-related procedures opened against the leading national media group Dogan Media Holding. The high fines imposed by the revenue authority potentially undermine the economic viability of the Group and therefore affect freedom of the press in practice. There is a need to uphold the principles of proportionality and of fairness in these tax-related procedures."

-DEMOCRATIC MOVE-

The Commission said, "the visit of the President to Iraq and the Turkish rapprochement with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) contributed to creating a positive atmosphere around a possible solution to the Kurdish issue. A vibrant domestic debate developed on this subject, involving public and political authorities, including the opposition and civil society. In summer, the government launched a broad consultation with the view to solve the Kurdish issue through peaceful means and announced a comprehensive plan to this end, but did not reveal yet any detail on the substance."
The Commission listed some positive developments as follows: in January 2009 TRT – the public service broadcaster – started operating channel TRT-6, broadcasting in Kurdish 24 hours a day; at the inauguration ceremony of TRT-6, the Prime Minister spoke a few words in Kurdish; during the local election campaign, politicians and political parties used Kurdish in political activities; contrary to previous years, the Newroz celebrations in March 2009 passed by peacefully overall; in June parliament adopted a Law on the De-mining of the Turkish-Syrian Border whereby anti-personnel and anti-tank mines will be cleared in the next five years under the supervision of the Ministry of Defence, and if necessary following public procurement procedures.
"Concerning freedom of religion, freedom of worship continues to be generally respected," it said.
"In December 2008 the Minister of Culture participated in the opening of the first Alevi Institute and apologised to the Alevis for past sufferings caused by the State. In January 2009 the Prime Minister attended an Alevi fast-breaking ceremony for the second consecutive year. The government held workshops aimed at discussing openly problems and expectations of the Alevis; this effort was received positively by the Alevi community. The public service broadcaster screened a number of programmes on the Alevi Muharram 24 celebrations. In another symbolic gesture, the Ministry of Culture started discussions to establish in the Madimak Hotel in Sivas a cultural centre in memory of the victims of the 1993 events," it said.

-CYPRUS-

"Turkey continued to express public support for fully fledged negotiations between the leaders of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities under the good offices of the UN Secretary-General aimed at a fair, comprehensive and viable settlement of the Cyprus problem within the UN framework. However, Turkey is expected to support actively the ongoing negotiations and to take practical steps to contribute to creating a climate favourable to a fair, comprehensive and viable settlement of the Cyprus problem," it said.
The Commission said that Turkey had made no progress towards opening its ports for Greek Cypriot vessels, and added, "it is now urgent that Turkey fulfils its obligation to ensure full, non-discriminatory implementation of the Additional Protocol." It also claimed that civilian vessels prospecting for oil on behalf of the Greek Cypriot administration were hindered by the Turkish navy on several occasions during the reporting period.
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