‘Turkey’s Progress Report Most Assuredly Positive’

Some member countries however have voiced their opposition to beginning the discussions with Turkey while the matter of the EU Constitution is still on the table. The EU Commission on the other hand wants to start the discussions with Turkey as soon as possible; however, the commission does not want to make the subject a snack for the EU Constitution debates.

The Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) U turn on adultery matter pleased the EU as well. The AKP decided not to push for the criminalization of adultery in the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) draft.

EU Commissioner for Enlargement Gunter Verheugen’s spokesman Jean-Christophe Filori responded to the turn of events. "If this news is true, then we congratulate the Turkish government on its decision."

Filori explained that the TCK is the cornerstone of Turkey’s reform process. "Insisting on the adultery article would have been a bad signal with just a few weeks left before the release of the Progress Report."

Meanwhile, experts arrived in Turkey to investigate claims that "systematic torture is still carried on in Turkey". The Human Rights Association of Turkey (IHV) expressed its concerns on the topic during Verheugen’s recent fact-finding mission to Turkey.

On the other side, the leader of France’s centrist Democratic Union Party (UDF), Francois Bayrou, asked that Turkey’s EU membership be discussed in the French Parliament prior to December 17th. Bayrou hinted that Turkey’s membership would plunge the Union into discord.