Europe should recognize Turkey’s progress

The list of Turkey’s recent accomplishments is long. The death penalty was repealed even though that meant that the most reviled man in the country – Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the violent revolutionary Kurdistan Workers Party – won reprieve. Draconian laws that restricted speech and the press for decades were abolished, ushering in a new era of free expression.
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Incommunicado pretrial detention – a practice that facilitated torture – has been abandoned. Another important step to end torture was taken when the law that required superiors to approve investigations was voided. This law had effectively protected torturers against possible punishment.

A state of emergency that curtailed basic liberties in southeast Turkey, where a majority of the Kurds live, was lifted after 25 years. Broadcasting and instruction in the Kurdish language was legalized. Turkey agreed that its courts must incorporate the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights in the conduct of domestic trials. The extraordinary powers of the national security council and its secretary general, which subordinated civilian rule to military authority, were eliminated.
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For the first time in its recent history, Turkey will spend more money on education in 2004 than on defense.
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Turkey has reversed its policy on Cyprus. The results of the referendum on April 24, which showed northern Cyprus clearly backing the reunification of that country, made clear the positive role played by Turkish diplomacy.
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This is a remarkable turnaround. Moreover, when war broke out in Iraq, Turkey did not use the occasion to reinstate emergency rule in the southeastern region that borders Iraq. When four bombs exploded in Istanbul in November, killing 61 people and wounding hundreds, there was no move to revert to incommunicado detentions.
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Turkey even adopted a freedom of information law, though this is not a specific requirement of the Copenhagen criteria for accession to the European Union. In this respect, Turkey has moved ahead of EU members such as Britain and Germany, which do not have these laws. Reform in Turkey now has a momentum of its own.
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That is not to say that the transformation of Turkey is complete. Far from it. Yet the changes up to now are significant. The European Union should take pride in what it has accomplished by agreeing to hold out the prospect of membership when it meets in December to decide whether Turkey can begin official accession talks. If the process is to be sustained, Europe must recognize Turkey’s progress.