Warning lights for Turkey

The European Commission has published its annual report on Turkey's preparations for EU membership. It has listed a number of shortcomings and unless Turkey tackles them and fulfils all its obligations, the Commission will be left with no option but to make the relevant recommendations ahead of the European Council due to meet next month on whether the negotiations with Turkey should continue or not.

It would then be up to the member states to decide whether to stop or continue with the negotiations.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso was reported to have said: "Europe needs a stable, democratic and increasingly prosperous Turkey, in peace with its neighbours, firmly on track towards modernisation and the adoption of European values.

"This is why we started accession negotiations with Turkey. However, the key to the success of this process is for Turkey to continue the reforms with full determination and to fulfil its obligations.

"Today we decided to give a chance for the diplomatic efforts to find a solution. Turkey needs to meet its obligations related to the implementation of the Ankara Protocol.

"Failure to implement its obligations in full will affect the overall progress in the negotiations. The Commission will make relevant recommendations ahead of the December European Council if Turkey has not fulfilled its commitments."

Mr Barroso was speaking soon after the Commission met to approve the latest report on Turkey. The report shows that significant efforts on the part of Turkey are still needed in a number of areas and particularly on freedom of expression.

Further improvements are also needed on the rights of non-Muslim religious communities, women's rights, trade union rights and on civilian control of the military.

Another major issue is that Turkey is not keeping its word on a very important condition made by the EU when it decided to open the membership negotiations with it, namely that it should normalise its relations with all the EU member states.

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 the free movement of goods and to trade.

They infringe the EU-Turkey Customs Union agreement. Similar restrictions continued to apply in the field of air transport.

Turkey's prime minister, as well as the foreign minister, stated on several occasions that the Additional Protocol extending the EU-Turkey customs union to all the new member states would not be implemented with respect to Cyprus as long as the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community continued.

However, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is not recognised by any state except Turkey.

Some progress has been registered in strengthening civilian control of the military. Under the law amending the relevant provisions of the Military Criminal Code, as adopted in June 2006, no civilian will be tried in military courts in peacetime, unless military personnel and civilians commit an offence together.

The new law also introduces the right of retrial in military courts. Accordingly, if the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights decides in favour of military or civilian persons, who have been tried before military courts, they can ask for a retrial.

But the armed forces - designated the guardians of the secular Turkish Constitution by the founder of the Republic Mustafa Kemal "Ataturk" - continue to interfere in politics. Senior members of the armed forces have expressed their opinion on domestic and foreign policy issues, including Cyprus, secularism, the Kurdish issue, and on the indictment concerning the Semdinli bombing.

Two gendarmerie intelligence officers have been put on trial and convicted in connection with the November 2005 bombing of a bookshop in Semdinli, Hakkari province, southeast Turkey (Kurdish).

Both men were sentenced to more than 39 years imprisonment. Investigation of higher level official involvement was precluded and specifically blocked by the General Chief of Staff.

According to the Commission's Progress Report on Turkey, existence of a secret protocol on Security, public order and assistance units (commonly called EMASYA), signed by the General Staff and the Ministry of Interior in 1997, allows for military operations to be carried out for internal security matters under certain conditions without request from the civilian authorities.

Under the protocol, the military can gather intelligence against internal threats. However, there is no control on how this information is used.

Corruption remains widespread in the Turkish public sector and judiciary, despite the efforts of recent years. Turkey needs to improve its legislation on financing and auditing of political parties.

But it is in the area of human rights where Turkey's record is most abysmal. During the first eight months of 2006, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered 196 final judgments finding that Turkey had violated at least one article of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

In only five cases did the ECtHR rule that there was no violation of the ECHR. Most of these judgments refer to cases lodged before 1999.

From September 1, 2005, to August 31, 2006, 2,100 new applications on Turkey were made to the ECtHR. More than two-thirds of the applications introduced to the ECtHR refer to the right to a fair trial (Art. 6) and protection of property rights (Art. 1 of Protocol No. 1). The right to life (Art. 2) and the prohibition of torture (Art. 3) are referred to in 78 and 142 cases, respectively.