EU concerned about slow reform in Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Commission warned membership-hopeful Turkey yesterday not to slip back in its reform process, saying it could not afford "another wasted year."



Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the EU executive body was concerned about the slow pace of reform in Turkey.



Turkey started EU accession talks in 2005 but they have been held back by slow progress in EU-linked reforms, the impact of the unresolved Cyprus dispute, and the reluctance of some EU members, such as France and Austria, to see Turkey join.



Rehn noted concerns about moves by Turkey's chief prosecutor to shut down the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and ban Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul from politics for alleged Islamist subversion.



Intervening in a case that threatens Turkey's bid to join the EU, the European Parliament called for constitutional amendments that would prevent Turkish courts from outlawing democratically elected parties.



Turkey needs to observe European standards, the Parliament said in a motion passed by lawmakers 467-62. It criticized an attempt by Turkish prosecutors to get the Constitutional Court to ban Erdogan's party a year after his re-election.



"Closing down a political party is not and cannot be business as usual," Rehn, the EU's pointman for the entry talks, told the Parliament. "It cannot be taken lightly in a European democracy."



The Parliament called on Turkey "to bring the constitution into line" with European principles on courts' oversight of political parties.



The warning was coupled with a separate EU announcement that the entry negotiations will inch ahead next month, in a show of support for Erdogan in his bid to anchor Turkey among the western democracies.



In the Constitutional Court case that aims to bring Erdogan down, prosecutors argue that the prime minister's Justice and Development Party (AKP) is subverting the religious freedoms that date back to the founding of modern Turkey in, the Turkish Daily News reports.