EU advises Turkey to hit European standards

The European Union on Friday pressed the government once more to sweep in democratic reforms, the emphasis of a European Parliament report to be discussed next week in Brussels.

"More should have been done" to improve freedom of expression, minority rights and civilian-military relations, said the head of the Turkish-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee in closing remarks at the end of two-day meetings in Ankara.

Joost Lagendijk particularly urged the government to pass laws on labor and trade unions rights based on European standards. Speaking of May Day demonstrations in Istanbul’s Taksim Square each year, where clashes between riot police and protesters regularly occur, he expressed the EU’s hope that a new trade law would improve the rights of trade unions in Turkey.

Monitoring human rights
"We hope that there will be compromise between the government and trade unions after the law passes in Parliament," said Lagendijk.

He said the EU would continue monitoring the country’s human rights record involving torture and ill treatment cases because, "human rights are key part of democracy."

The recent death of Engin Çeber while in custody is an issue we have been following, Lagendijk said. "We appreciate the apology of the justice minister to the family of the victim." In the first public statement of its kind last month, Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin accepted state responsibility in the case of Çeber, who died from injuries he received at the Metris Prison in Istanbul and apologized to the victim’s relatives.

The Turkish-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee discussed social policies, unemployment, the role of trade unions and foreign policy issues. Lagendijk welcomed the Turkish president’s visit to Armenia in September as a "breakthrough" and stressed good relations between Ankara and Yerevan would make a solution to the problems of Nagorno-Karabakh and events of the past easier.

Yaşar Yakış, the Turkish chair of the joint committee, said concerns had been conveyed to the EU over the council framework decision combating racism, warning approval of the decision that broadens the 1948 United Nations Convention on Genocide could be abused.

One of the visiting officials from the European Parliament challenged Turkey’s status as the only country in the world which blocked "YouTube," in a written statement.

Richard Howitt, vice-president of the European Parliament’s human rights sub-committee, said, "As a modern country looking forward to EU membership, Turkey should be embracing new communications, rather than putting itself in the same bracket as some of the world’s pariah states."

He said the 1,000 Web sites that were blocked in Turkey put the country alongside some of the world’s worst nations in cyber censorship and called for legal reform, both in respect to freedom of expression, and for the advancement of the country’s economic interests.

The president of the European Parliament’s human rights sub-committee asked a Turkish deputy if the rights of homosexuals and transsexuals would be safeguarded in the constitution.

Helene Flautre held talks Thursday with Zafer Üskül, head of Turkish Parliament’s Human Rights Commission. In response, Üskül said time and patience was needed for improvement on the issue. "I cannot say they are not experiencing any problemsÉbut some positive developments have been seen."

Opposition blamed
An interesting exchange of words took place between another member of the European Parliament and ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, deputy Abdurrahman Kurt.

MEP Sarah Ludford asked Kurt why the AKP had stalled reforms. Kurt blamed the opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, for voting down constitutional amendments and other democratic reforms. CHP’s Malik Ecder Özdemir, also present at the meeting, became angry and said it was not appropriate to tell the European parliamentarian the CHP was preventing reforms.