Turkey Approves Anti-Torture Reforms

Turkish leaders had pledged to pass the laws before the summit, but parliament in December held off on a final vote, apparently waiting for the results of the summit. The parliament voted 254-2 on Thursday in favor of measures to prevent courts from suspending the sentences of convicted torturers or converting them to monetary fines. The new laws also reinforce constitutional amendments approved by Turkey’s president earlier this week that would allow Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the banned leader of the governing party, to run for political office and possibly become prime minister.
The constitutional changes removed clauses barring those convicted of engaging in illegal "ideological and anarchic activities" from running for office, instead barring only those convicted of terrorism. Parliament on Thursday altered laws to take those changes into account.
EU governments have cited a poor human rights record, including reports of systematic torture in Turkish jails, as an obstacle toward Turkey’s EU membership. In December, the EU invited 10 mostly former communist nations to join in 2004, but not Turkey.
In August, parliament abolished the death penalty and agreed to allow minority Kurds to teach and broadcast in their language_ other long-standing EU demands.