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EU urges Turkey to improve Kurds' rights
6.11.2007
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November
6, 2007
BRUSSELS, Nov 6, 2007-- The European
Commission urged EU candidate Turkey on Tuesday to
do more to improve the rights and welfare of Kurds
in the mainly Kurdish southeastern of Turkey and
avoid military action
against Turkey's Kurdish PKK separatists based in
Iraqi Kurdistan.
The plea for a political solution to the Kurdish
question came at a sensitive moment with Turkish
troops massed on the border with Kurdistan 'northern
Iraq' after a spate of deadly cross-border attacks
by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The annual progress report on the European Union's
biggest and most controversial candidate also said
Ankara must make "significant further efforts" on
freedom of expression and religion to advance its EU
bid after overcoming a constitutional crisis this
year. |
EU urges Turkey to improve Kurds' rights |
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn declined to
speculate on the impact of a possible military
incursion into Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' on Turkey's
accession process, but he strongly urged Ankara and
Baghdad to deal with the problem through
cooperation.
"In the South-East, Turkey needs also to create the
conditions for the predominantly Kurdish population
there to enjoy full rights and freedoms," the EU
executive's enlargement strategy paper said.
Rehn said he understood Turkey's need to protect its
population against terrorism but sounded a clear
warning against a military incursion in Kurdistan
region 'northern Iraq'.
"It is important Turkey continues to work with Iraq,
with regional authorities (in Kurdish northern Iraq)
and with the international community in order to
tackle this serious problem of terrorism by means of
cooperation to achieve a political solution to this
problem," he said.
INFAMOUS ARTICLE
Rehn said democracy had prevailed over military
meddling in politics in this year's crisis over the
election of a new president and had emerged
strengthened, but Ankara must now renew the momentum
of reforms that had slowed since 2005.
"The new momentum should now be used to relaunch the
reforms to improve fundamental freedoms,
particularly the freedom of expression and religious
freedom, so that they prevail in all corners of the
country and in all walks of life," Rehn
said.
In its first reaction, the Turkish Foreign Ministry
said it was aware there had been a slowdown in EU-related
reforms but stressed that Ankara was still
determined to meet its EU targets.
"We are still determined to effectively implement
the reforms," it said in a statement.
Rehn recommended the EU should not open accession
talks on the key policy area of justice and human
rights until Turkey had repealed or amended what he
called the "infamous article 301" of its penal code,
used to prosecute journalists and intellectuals for
"insulting Turkishness".
The report showed more people had been prosecuted
last year on that catch-all charge, used notably
against comments on the mass killings of Armenians
in 1915, than the previous year.
Turkey began accession negotiations in 2005 but the
EU suspended talks last December on eight of the 35
chapters or policy areas into which EU law is
divided after Ankara refused to open its ports and
airports to traffic from Cyprus. That refusal was
linked to a broader dispute over the island's
status. www.ekurd.net
Ankara has so far begun talks on only four chapters.
Rehn said two more -- consumer affairs and
trans-European networks -- were ready for opening
and should start this year.
The Commission also highlighted the need for
progress on the rights of children and trade unions
as well as on civilian oversight over the military.
A senior Turkish diplomatic source said that while
the report contained few surprises, its treatment of
the role of the armed forces was insensitive at such
a time.
"The civil-military part is too harsh. The EU could
have been much more balanced and sensitive on that
especially these days when Turkey is suffering from
the PKK threat," he said.
Rehn said Ankara should not use a planned new
constitution to postpone urgent reforms of freedom
of expression and religion But the Turkish
diplomatic source said reforming article 301 was not
a short-term priority for the government.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, elected in May,
has said Turkey is not geographically in Europe and
should not join the 27-nation bloc.
Reuters
**
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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