Repression Blocking Talks on Eu Bid, Turkey Told

The EU yesterday told Turkey to move promptly to ditch laws criminalizing the free expression of views deemed to insult Turkishness and warned that Ankara's talks on joining the EU were being jeopardized by the prosecution of writers and journalists.

Delivering the annual report on the state of Turkey's lengthy campaign to negotiate EU membership, Olli Rehn, the union's commissioner for enlargement, said that talks on justice and human rights would be blocked until the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan repealed the repressive legislation. "It is not acceptable that writers, journalists, academics and other intellectuals are prosecuted for simply expressing a critical but completely non-violent opinion," he said.

Mr Erdogan, who won a landslide election victory in July after months of political turmoil and threats of a military coup to unseat him, has focused reform on the drafting of a new constitution, which is to be enacted next year at the earliest.

Mr Rehn, while applauding the government's efforts, said Brussels could not wait that long on freedom of expression. The "infamous" article 301 of the constitution, which has been used to prosecute writers such as the Nobel prizewinning novelist Orhan Pamuk, had to be repealed or amended without delay.

Mr Rehn said several other negotiating areas would remain frozen because of Turkey's dispute over Cyprus, but added that two sets of talks should start in the weeks ahead. He argued there was no case for EU opponents of Turkish membership, notably France, Germany, and Austria, to block the resumption of negotiations.

Mr Rehn was guarded on the prospect of a Turkish invasion of northern Iraq to try to crack down on Kurdish separatist guerrillas launching attacks on south-east Turkey from strongholds across the Iraqi border. Diplomats and officials in Brussels say Mr Erdogan is resolved on limited action in Iraqi Kurdistan to assuage domestic public opinion, but is unlikely to launch a big destabilizing military campaign.