Human Rights Watch said that the European Union's decision to begin membership discussions with Turkey was a significant opportunity for genuine human rights reform.
"All prospective E.U. members are required to meet some strict criteria on human rights," stated Holly Cartner, executive director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "Things shouldn't be any different for Turkey. International human rights standards are not negotiable."
Cartner added that if the E.U. holds Turkey to its commitments, "The membership process could provide an exciting opportunity for real reform."
The European Union invited Turkey to become a candidate for future membership today in Helsinki, Finland, where E.U. representatives were meeting to debate plans for enlarging the organization. The E.U.'s decision brings an end to the Turkish government's forty-year campaign to obtain candidate status, which had been repeatedly rebuffed by the E.U. on human rights grounds.
In late 1997, the European Union made a decision to exclude Turkey from its list of eleven prospective members, citing Turkey's dismal human rights record as its primary concern.
In response to these criticisms, Turkey announced a succession of largely empty human rights "initiatives," that appeared intended primarily for international consumption. Widespread torture and ill-treatment by police, disappearances, severe restrictions on freedom of expression and association, and serious humanitarian law violations in the conflict between the Turkish military and the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK) have continued unabated, raising serious questions about the Turkish government's genuine commitment to reform.
In November, a spokesperson for the Turkish Foreign Ministry stated that "Turkey will not accept any preconditions for E.U. membership." However, as far back as 1993, the European Union indicated that all candidates for membership would have to meet certain basic requirements. The E.U.'S 1993 "Copenhagen Criteria" require, among other things, that candidate countries establish stable institutions that guarantee "democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities."
Human Rights Watch urged that any genuine program of reform include the following steps:
- lift all restrictions on freedom in the use of languages other than Turkish;
- lift the ban on headscarves in schools, government departments, and parliament;
- abolish incommunicado detention;
- remove gendarmes from prison guard duties;
- end small-group isolation in prisons;
- lift the closure orders on the Diyarbakir branch of the Turkish Human Rights Association, and the Sanliurfa branch of Mazlum-Der;
- sign Protocol 6 to the European Human Rights Convention and thereby undertake not to carry out any further executions; and
- the Justice Minister, in his capacity as chair of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors, should inform prosecutors and judges that they may no longer convict people for exercising their right to free speech.
