Turkey Human Rights Record Criticised in European Commission Report

Turkey was today strongly criticised by the European commission for undermining its EU membership talks by slowing the pace of reform on human rights, and for failing to open up its ports and airports to Greek Cypriots.

In a hard-hitting report (pdf) that censures Turkey across the board, the European commission set the stage for a showdown with Ankara by the end of the year.

Among the main criticisms in the 74-page report, Turkey was accused of failing to:

* Abide by its 2004 commitment, which allowed EU membership talks to start last year, to open Turkey's ports and airports to Greek Cypriot vessels;

* amend the notorious article 301 of its penal code which has allowed authors to be prosecuted for "expressing non-violent opinion" after they were accused of insulting Turkishness;

* offer full protection for religious minorities;

* fully reform the judiciary to guarantee its independence and impartiality, and

* end the military's involvement in civil society.

The report will be seized on by critics of Turkey who are likely to say that it shows Ankara is unfit for EU membership. But the commission stopped short of recommending any punishment in the hope of giving Turkey a final chance to give ground on Cyprus, and human rights, before next month's summit of EU leaders.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the commission, made clear that Turkey has a month to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriots or risk a suspension of some "chapters" of its EU membership negotiations. These would be related to Turkey's customs union with the EU, of which Cyprus is a member.

Mr Barroso said: "Today we decided to give a chance for the diplomatic efforts to find a solution."

The report showed how seriously the European commission was taking the slow pace of progress in Turkey. On Cyprus it strongly criticised Turkey for failing to extend its customs union to the Greek half of the divided Mediterranean island, which is regarded by the EU as the lawful government of the whole of Cyprus since it entered the EU in 2004.

The report said: "Turkey has continued to deny access to its ports to vessels flying the Republic of Cyprus flag or where the last port of call is in Cyprus. Such restrictions on shipping often preclude the most economical way of transport and therefore result in a barrier to free movement of goods and to trade."

The commission used even stronger language to criticise Turkey on human rights and freedom of expression, as it condemned Ankara for failing to amend article 301 of its penal code. This was the legislation used to prosecute Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel prize-winning author, for insulting Turkishness.

It said: "Certain provisions of the penal code leave a significant margin of interpretation for the judiciary. In particular, the restrictive interpretation of article 301 led to prosecutions and convictions of people for the expression of non violent opinion."

But Olli Rehn, the European enlargement commissioner, said he was encouraged after Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, indicated that he might amend the code. "Turkey has continued political reforms even though the pace has slowed down during the past year," he said in an attempt to make clear that progress, however slow, was being made.

Turkey reacted cautiously to the report. Mr Erdogan, who made clear that Turkey was unwilling to give ground on Cyprus until the EU lifted its embargo on the Turkish-occupied northern half of the island, indicated that he expected his country's EU membership negotiations to be hit, though he did not believe this would be terminal.

"There is no chance of a rupture or anything like that, in my view. A suspension, a breakdown of consultations, the train halting at the station, these are not possible. There could be a slowdown on chapters," he said.

Abdullah Gul, the foreign minister, said Turkey was determined not to derail the talks. "We want to make sure that Turkey will become more and more democratic and meet all the criteria that have been set by the EU," he said during a visit to Rome. "We are determined and we know that the Turkish people will benefit directly from this. These are the criteria of the EU and have to be implemented and we are aware of that."

In other parts of today's report, the commission was critical of the role of the military in Turkish civil life, although it said that some reforms had been introduced. "Overall, limited progress has been made in aligning civil military relations with EU practices. Statements by the military should only concern military, defence and security matters and should only be made under the authority of the government."

The commission said that torture and ill treatment was decreasing, though it was still not happy. "Cases of torture and ill treatment are still being reported in particular outside detention centres."

The report on Turkey was one of seven on countries which are either involved in EU membership negotiations - Turkey and Croatia - or hoping to join. These are the other former Yugloslav republics plus Albania.

Mr Rehn also published a highly significant report on the EU's enlargement strategy. This said that the "absorption capacity" test, which the EU used to decide whether it could fit in a new member, should be renamed the "integration capacity" test. This was designed to show that both sides - the EU and an aspiring member - needed to test how a new member would benefit EU integration.