The Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted the own initiative report by Ria OOMEN-RUIJTEN (EPP-ED, NL) on the 2007 report on Turkey's progress towards accession, welcoming the commitment of Prime Minister Erdogan that 2008 is going to be a year of reforms. MEPs now urge the Turkish government to fulfil its promises and to transform Turkey into a modern and prosperous democracy based on a secular state and a pluralistic society.
Reforms towards a democratic and prosperous society: MEPs underline their belief that only a society which is guided by respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and which is based on democracy and a socially oriented market economy, can develop into a peaceful, stable and prosperous society. They, therefore, welcome the fact that, in 2007, democracy prevailed over attempts by the military to interfere in the political process. Turkey must now make further efforts to ensure that the democratically elected political leadership bears full responsibility for formulation of policies and that the armed forces respect this responsibility by fully and unambiguously acknowledging civilian control. In particular, the Turkish government is called upon to respect the pluralism and diversity of Turkey and to engage itself in modernising the country. While they welcome the amendment to Article 301 of the Penal Code (article on denigrating Turkish identity or insulting the country’s institutions which was introduced in 2005 to replace Article 159 of the former Penal Code and regularly invoked to prosecute human rights defenders, journalists etc), they believe that it is merely a first step towards freedom of expression by recalling that the number of persons prosecuted under legal provisions allowing for arbitrary restrictions on the expression of non-violent opinion continues to increase. In particular, MEPs call for further progress regarding human rights and religious freedom, even though significant reforms were made as regards the latter in 2007. MEPs particularly call for the immediate re-opening of the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary and the public use of the ecclesiastical title of the Ecumenical Patriarch.
Towards a growing economy: MEPs welcome the positive development of the Turkish economy. However, considerable efforts are required to tackle the problem of the black economy and to place the social security system on a sustainable footing. In addition, efforts must be made in terms of social dialogue, the respect of International Labour Organisation conventions and access to education. MEPs express their concern about the level of corruption in Turkey and about the high extent of development disparities among Turkish regions (with sometimes very large differences between rural and urban areas). In terms of cohesion, MEPs call on Turkey to apply European standards to the construction of dams in the Munzur valley, the Allianoi, the Ilisu and to gold-mining in Bergama.
Regional issues and external relations: MEPs recall Turkey’s commitment to good neighbourly relations with Greece (e.g. the Aegean continental shelf) and Bulgaria (e.g. the property rights of Bulgarian Thracian refugees). In particular, they stress the need to arrive at a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus question based on the principles of the EU. In this respect, MEPs welcome the official visit to Turkey of the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic, Kostas Karamanlis, which gives hope for further improvement of bilateral Greek-Turkish relations. They also call on the Turkish government to end the economic blockade with Armenia and to start a process of reconciliation with this country, allowing for a frank and open discussion of past events. At the same time, MEPs urge Turkey to sign the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
EU-Turkey relations: MEPs urge the Turkish government to implement fully and without delay the provisions stemming from the EC-Turkey Association Agreement and the Additional Protocol thereto, recalling that non-fulfilment of Turkey's commitments will continue to seriously affect the process of negotiations. MEPs recognise Turkey's ambition of becoming a Eurasian energy hub and encourage the country to join the European Energy Community as a full member. They call on Turkey to fully support the Nabucco pipeline project (a European priority project). They reiterate the importance of bilateral and trilateral cross-border cooperation programmes (Turkey-Greece-Bulgaria) and also those carried out under the ENPI/CBC Black Sea Programme. Lastly, MEPs call on the Commission and the Turkish government to start negotiations on an EU-Turkey visa facilitation agreement.