This year's report on Turkey is issued in the specific
context of a military coup attempt which occurred on the night of 15 July,
leaving 241 casualties and 2 196 people wounded. The Turkish government with
the support of the entire Turkish political spectrum and society, succeeded in
overcoming the coup attempt. The EU strongly and immediately condemned the
attempted coup, which represented a direct attack on democracy in Turkey as such,
and reiterated its full support
to the democratic institutions of the country…
Turkey's judicial system is at an early stage/has
some level of preparation. There has been backsliding in the past year, in
particular with regard to the independence of the judiciary. The extensive
changes to the structures and composition of high courts are of serious concern
and are not in line with European standards. Judges and prosecutors continued
to be removed from their profession and in some cases were arrested, on
allegations of conspiring with the Gülen movement. This situation worsened
further after the July coup attempt, following which one fifth of the judges
and prosecutors were dismissed and saw their assets frozen. The judiciary must
work in an environment allowing it to perform its duties in an independent and
impartial manner, with the executive and legislature fully respecting the
separation of powers. Under the state of emergency, Turkey has further extended
for certain offences the pre-trial detention to 30 days without access to a
judge against European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case law and an important
part of the judiciary is subject to these measures.
The country has some level of preparation for the fight
against corruption. Corruption remains prevalent in many areas and continues to
be a serious problem. The adoption of a new strategy and anti-corruption action
plan is a step forward even if it remains rather limited in scope. The legal
framework continues to suffer from important gaps and the executive's influence
on the investigation and prosecution of high-profile corruption cases remains a
major source of concern. Corruption perception remains high.
Turkey has achieved some level of preparation in the fight
against organised crime. Institutional capacity was increased and new
strategies and action plans were adopted. However, statistics on the number of
final convictions and other important indicators are not available. Financial
investigations remain underused. Precautionary freezing of assets is rarely
applied and the level of assets confiscated is low. In the fight against
terrorism, a comprehensive legal framework on terrorism financing is in place.
The anti-terror law is not in line with the acquis with regard to its
scope and definitions and its application raises serious fundamental rights
concerns. Both the criminal and anti-terror legislation should be aligned with
ECtHR case-law, without reducing the capacity of Turkey to fight terrorism. The
proportionality principle must be observed in practice.
The Turkish legal framework includes general guarantees of
respect for human and fundamental rights, which need to be further
improved. The enforcement of rights stemming from the European Convention on
Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights is not yet
ensured. Many allegations of serious violations of the prohibition of torture
and ill-treatment and of procedural rights were reported in the immediate
aftermath of the coup attempt. Yet, all measures taken must be in line with the
principles of proportionality and respect for human rights. The new Law on the
Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey is a step in the right
direction. It contains provisions on prohibiting discrimination on a large
number of grounds, but does not explicitly cover sexual orientation. There is
still a need to adopt a fully comprehensive dedicated law on combating
discrimination.
A legal vacuum exists on human rights cases as the new National
Human Rights and Equality institution has not yet been established. The rights
of the most vulnerable groups and of persons belonging to minorities should be
sufficiently protected. Gender-based violence, discrimination, hate speech
against minorities, hate crime and violations of human rights of LGBTI persons
continue to be a source of a serious concern. Regarding the renewed
considerations to introduce a bill in parliament to reinstate the death
penalty, the EU recalls that the unequivocal rejection of the death penalty is
an essential element of the EU acquis and a central international obligation to
which Turkey has committed
There has been serious backsliding in the past year in the
area of freedom of expression. Selective and arbitrary application of the
law, especially of the provisions on national security and the fight against
terrorism, is having a negative impact on freedom of expression.Ongoing and new
criminal cases against journalists, writers or social media users, withdrawal
of accreditations, high numbers of arrests of journalists as well as closure of
numerous media outlets in the aftermath of the July attempted coup are of
serious concern. Freedom of assembly continues to be overly restricted, in law
and practice.
Turkey continued to express support for the talks on the Cyprus
settlement between the leaders of the two communities,and for the efforts
of the UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser. Turkey's commitment and
contribution in concrete terms to this comprehensive settlement remains
crucial. However, Turkey has still not fulfilled its obligation to ensure full
and non-discriminatory implementation of the Additional Protocol to the
Association Agreement and has not removed all obstacles to the free movement of
goods, including restrictions on direct transport links with Cyprus. There was
no progress on normalising bilateral relations with the Republic of Cyprus. The
conclusions on Turkey that were adopted by the Council (General Affairs and
External Relations) on 11 December 2006 and endorsed by the European Council in
December 2006 remain in force. They stipulate that negotiations will not be
opened on eight chapters (Free movement of goods, right of establishment and freedom
to provide services, financial services, agriculture and rural development,
fisheries, transport policy, customs union, and external relations) relating to Turkey's restrictions
regarding the Republic of Cyprus and no chapter will be provisionally closed
until the Commission confirms that Turkey has fully implemented the Additional
Protocol to the Association Agreement.
Turkey needs to commit itself unequivocally to good
neighbourly relations, international agreements, and to the peaceful settlement
of disputes in accordance with the United Nations Charter, having recourse, if
necessary, to the International Court of Justice. In this context, the EU has
expressed once again serious concern and urged Turkey to avoid any kind of threat
or action directed against a Member State, or source of friction or actions
that damages good neighbourly relations and the peaceful settlement of disputes…
EU legislation
Regarding its ability to assume the obligations of
membership, Turkey has continued to align with the acquis. With the positive
exception of the visa liberalisation related work, efforts continued at a
limited pace. Turkey is well advanced in the areas of company law,
trans-European networks and science and research and it has achieved a good
level of preparation in the areas of free movement of goods, intellectual
property law, financial services, enterprise and industrial policy, consumer
and health protection, customs union, external relations and financial control.
Turkey is only moderately prepared on public procurement as important gaps
remain in its alignment. Turkey is also moderately prepared in the area of
statistics and transport policy where further significant efforts are needed
across the board. Turkey has only reached some level of preparation in
environment and climate change where more ambitious and better coordinated
policies still need to be established and implemented. In all areas, more
attention needs to be given to enforce legislation whilst many areas require
further significant progress to achieve legislative alignment with the EU acquis.(http://europa.eu)
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