Turkey Told to Speed Up Reforms

The pace of reform in Turkey over human rights, free speech and freedom of religion has slowed to an unacceptable level, the European commission will tell Ankara next week. A month after European leaders hailed the start of Turkey's EU membership talks as "historic", Ankara is to be criticised for failing to meet its side of the bargain by intensifying reforms.

The criticisms will be made in the commission's annual "progress report" on Turkey's preparations for EU membership. It will say that Turkey has introduced some important reforms over the past year, most notably to the penal code.

According to sources in Brussels, Olli Rehn, the enlargement commissioner, is particularly concerned by the impending court case against the country's best-known novelist. Orhan Pamuk has been charged under the penal code after he told a Swiss newspaper: "Thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it."

One source said: "Turkey can expect a rap over the knuckles for allowing things to drift over the past year."

Another said: "These reports are usually critical. They never praise countries because you do not want to give them a sense of complacency. There has been progress but there will be criticism."

The commission will reinforce its criticisms by publishing a second "accession partnership" report on the same day next week which will set Turkey a series of goals, including an end to torture and a guarantee of freedom of religion within two years. The goals, which are known in the report as "short- and medium-term objectives", also include establishing parliamentary oversight of military policy, ending the right of military courts to try civilians and guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary.