DEP decision will be included in EU report on Turkey

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey’s State Security Court’s (DGM) verdict on DEP deputies that would keep them in prison, including Leyla Zana, made European Union (EU) Comission and it decided the verdict to be included in EU Commission report which was written on Turkey’s development on the EU path.

In today’s EU Commission’s session, it is emphasized that judgment sytem is not in accord with government’s reform process.

The Ankara state security court confirmed convictions against Zana, winner of the European Parliament’s 1995 Sakharov prize for human rights, along with co-defendants Hatip Dicle, Orhan Dogan and Selim Sadak.

The commission is due to publish a report on Turkey later this year which will serve as the basis for a decision by EU leaders in December on whether to start formal EU entry negotiations with Ankara.
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The European Union condemned the conviction of human rights award winner Leyla Zana in a retrial in Turkey, warning it could jeopardise the country’s EU entry bid.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm which plays a key role in recommending whether Ankara should get the EU green light, said it cast a "negative shadow" over Turkey’s reform efforts.

"The commission strongly deplores today’s verdict," said EU enlargement commissioner Guenter Verheugen, after Zana and three other former Kurdish lawmakers were sentenced to 15 years in jail for membership of an armed rebel group, confirming a 1994 sentence.

The verdict "gives rise to serious concern in the light of the (EU’s) political criteria and casts a negative shadow on the implementation of political reforms in Turkey," he added in a statement.

A spokesman for Verheugen declined to say how seriously the Zana verdict could affect Brussels’ opinion of Turkey.

"I cannot speculate on the final assessment but this is an element that will be taken into account among all the others when we make our assessment in October," said the spokesman, Jean-Christophe Filori.

But asked whether the EU could open accession talks with a country which is holding political prisoners, he said: "The answer is no."

"Mrs. Zana was imprisoned and sentenced for having expressed opinions in a non-violent way. So for us she is a political prisoner," he added, while declining to say whether Turkey can start talks if her conviction is confirmed.

Wednesday’s verdict came against a 2001 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights which had found the original trial of the four activist unfair and ordered that they be tried again.

Their lawyer, Yusuf Alatas, denounced the Ankara trial as unfair, and announced that they would again appeal before the European Court of Human Rights if need be.

Under Turkish law, the four former lawmakers, who have already been in jail for a decade, will be up for release in 2005.

The Brussels spokesman repeatedly declined to be drawn on the potential full impact of the verdict.

But he noted that such state security courts were due to be abolished in Turkey as part of a raft of EU-oriented reforms.

"Of course if these courts are abolished, it would be good step," Filori said.

"But I can only say that we have to watch closely what will happen on appeal," he added.

The verdict also sparked a sharp reaction in the European Parliament, currently holding its once-a-month plenary session in Strasbourg.

"It was with great disappointment that we have learnt this morning of the decision" of the Ankara court, said Joost Lagendijk, co-chair of the EU-Turkey joint parliamentary committee.

"We hope that the Turkish Court of Appeal will put an end to the repeated injustices committed against Leyla Zana and her colleagues. In the meantime we call for their immediate release," he added.