Parliament report states new Turkish constitution ‘essential’

Date: 24/04/03

By David Cronin

Turkey needs a new constitution if it is to meet the obligations of joining the EU, according to a new European Parliament report.

Its author, Dutch Christian Democrat Arie Oostlander, argues that the existing constitution, dating from 1982, "bears the clear hallmarks of the military" and "does not lend itself to radical amendment".

Only the "establishment of a new constitution, based fully on European political values" would allow Turkey to achieve the reforms required by the 'Copenhagen criteria' - the basic conditions for membership established by the 1993 EU summit in the Danish capital.

Oostlander, whose report is due to be considered by the Parliament's foreign affairs committee next week (28-30 April), said: "The army [in Turkey] has much more power than is acceptable for a constitutional state. The defence budget is separate from the national budget and is completely outside parliamentary control. The army has unparalleled power over business, education and the media."

He contends that the Union should not adopt a 'wait and see' approach with Turkey. Instead it should work with Ankara to ensure that genuine progress towards meeting the Copenhagen criteria are met: "In order for this approach to be effective, no problems should be swept under the carpet," he adds.

His report endorses the reforms introduced so far by the Justice and Development party (AKP), since it came to power late last year. "The changing of the guard in Turkey's parliament and government is a reason for optimism," it states. "The AKP will probably show more willingness to distance itself from the old state philosophy. Still, even for this government the reform process will be hard to follow."

Indeed, he laments that some of the reforms have yet to yield concrete results. The Turkish parliament adopted a law in January, for example, which allows for retrials where a Turkish court verdict has been found to be inconsistent with the European Convention on Human Rights.

That was the case with imprisoned Kurdish MP Leyla Zana, a recipient of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for promoting freedom of expression, but she remains locked up. "The Parliament has been calling for her release for the last nine years, with no result so far," Oostlander noted.

Turkey needs a new constitution if it is to meet the obligations of joining the EU, according to a new European Parliament report.