Human rights and Turkey’s bid for EU membership: will ‘fundamental rights of the Union’ bring fundamental changes to the Turkish Constitution and Turkish politics?

Abstract:

This paper compares and contrasts human rights provisions of the Turkish Constitution with those of the Charter of the Fundamental Rights, incorporated in the draft European Constitution as Part II. It critiques the Turkish Constitution and assesses the convergence of its approach with the European Union’s human rights regime on the critical issues of dignity, freedoms, equality, solidarity, civil rights, and justice. While changes are required in Turkey’s constitution to bring it into line, the main changes required are the full implementation in practice of rights promised in the legal texts.