Today’s Zaman, Turkey
June 28 2008
PACE rains down rights criticism after thunderous warning
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) yesterday
leveled fresh criticism against Turkey over its human rights
practices, approving a report that criticizes practices of Turkish
authorities which it says caused a massive migration of the ethnic
Greek population of two Aegean islands.
The report, approved by a 32-11 vote, regrets that the `original’
ethnic Greek population of the Gökçeada and Bozcaada
islands had to migrate to Greece as a consequence of several measures
by the Turkish authorities, such as the `closure of all Greek
community schools, large-scale expropriations, various forms of
harassment’ as well as economic reasons.
Lamenting that large-scale migration left only a tiny population of
250 mostly elderly members of the Greek community on
Gökçeada and 25 on Bozcaada, the report calls on Turkey
to permit the reopening of at least one Greek community school on
Gökçeada as soon as a sufficient number of ethnic Greek
families with school-age children have committed themselves to
resettling on the island.
It also urges the Turkish authorities to "return expropriated land and
buildings to their previous owners, whenever the land is not, or no
longer, used for the public purposes for which it was expropriated."
The criticism came just one day after deputies voted on a report that
issued a stern warning to Turkey on the future of its democracy. The
report warned that a closure case against the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) could result in the re-imposition of
monitoring of the European Union candidate country for its democratic
and human rights practices. That, analysts agree, would mean the
return of Turkey to the league of low-democracy countries on the
European continent, where it was prior to 2004.
Even the talk of monitoring could mean serious risks for the fate of
Turkey’s accession talks as it gives opponents of Turkish membership
perhaps the strongest ammunition to date to argue that Ankara’s
democracy is not mature enough for the EU. "This will be a weapon for
opponents of Turkey such as [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel and
[French President Nicolas] Sarkozy," Can Baydarol, an expert on EU
affairs, told Today’s Zaman.
The EU opened accession talks with Turkey in 2005 only after the
Council of Europe, Europe’s human rights watchdog, lifted monitoring
on Ankara. Given the already widespread public opposition in Europe
against Turkish membership and objections from powerful politicians
like Sarkozy and Merkel, monitoring by the Council of Europe of
Turkey’s compliance with European values of democracy is certain to
deal a serious blow to Ankara’s membership prospects and expand
European criticism of its democratic practices.
In addition to harsh criticism of the AK Party closure case and a call
for more action to improve conditions for the ethnic Greek population
of the Aegean islands, PACE members also signed a motion for a
resolution that criticizes Turkey for convicting a publisher under the
infamous Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), the article that
penalizes insulting "Turkishness." The document, introduced on
Wednesday and signed by 21 PACE members, expresses regret that Turkish
publisher Ragıp Zarakolu was sentenced to a term in prison in
June under Article 301 following the publication of a book by an
English intellectual on the Armenian question.
"The assembly considers that the continuing use of Article 301 to
attack freedom of expression in Turkey is in violation of Council of
Europe and other international conventions and norms supporting
freedom of expression," the document says and calls on the relevant
committees of the assembly to "consider whether Turkey is in breach of
the European Convention of Human Rights by maintaining Article 301 in
its penal code."
Article 301 has been the most serious source of European complaints on
issues of human rights in Turkey. But the tone of criticism changed
dramatically after the closure case against the AK Party on charges of
anti-secular activities. PACE made clear its differences with the
state prosecutor who filed the closure case, saying the criteria of
secularism cannot be applied to political parties and that there are
several parties in Europe inspired by religion.
The PACE report has put AK Party lawmakers into a difficult situation;
though unhappy about the closure case against their party, only three
of the eight PACE members from the AK Party voted for the report,
while the remaining five were absent in the voting. PACE members from
Turkish opposition parties slammed the report before the vote,
charging that it was dictated by the AK Party. Foreign Minister Ali
Babacan was also absent, although he was invited by PACE to the
session.
`No business as usual if AK Party closed down’
A senior European politician has reiterated that a possible closure of
Turkey’s ruling party will have consequences for Ankara’s European
Union membership process, rejecting Turkish criticism that Europe is
interfering in the country’s internal affairs by speaking out on the
issue.
"To tell the truth, if the court disbands the Justice and Development
Party [AK Party], EU negotiations would stall," said Joost Lagendijk,
a member of the European Parliament who also co-chairs the EU-Turkey
Joint Parliamentary Committee, the Anatolia news agency
reported. Lagendijk was speaking yesterday during a visit to the
southern province of Hatay. "We cannot sympathize with the closure of
the AK Party, which came to power with 47 percent of the popular
vote," he said.
He said everyone should know that the EU would not remain silent to
the closure of a political party in Turkey. "The European Parliament
has made its position clear on this issue. Our goal is not to
intervene in the court’s ruling or interfere with Turkey’s internal
affairs. But we cannot act as if nothing had happened," Lagendijk
said.
He also said the European Parliament has reacted against a closure
case against the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), but that
the differences between the DTP and the AK Party, which was re-elected
with a strong popular mandate last July, should also be
acknowledged. Ä°stanbul Today’s Zaman