By Jenny White
In a 17-page document entitled “46th Meeting of the EC-Turkey Association Council: Position of the European Union,” the EU takes a critical position on the judiciary, Cyprus, the Kurdish question, freedom of expression, military-civilian relations, religious freedom (for religious minorities), Iraq and the reform process. Although pointing out the limited progress achieved in political reforms in 2007, the draft notes the government’s declared intention to carry on reforms. The draft says the EU “follows” the closure cases and hopes for the verdict to be in line with European Court of Human Rights principles and the guidelines established by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe. Brussels draws attention to the closure cases in two different sections — freedom of association and assembly, and political criteria.
The European Commission warned membership-hopeful Turkey yesterday not to slip back in its reform process, saying it could not afford “another wasted year.” Speaking in the European
By ENGİN ARDIÇ, SABAH
Do you know Joost Lagendijk, the man who stirred up such hatred after being accused of "getting involved in Turkey's domestic business"?
Turkey is not an especially peaceful country, a new study has revealed. Turkey recently ranked 115 out of 140 countries on the Global Peace Index (GPI), which measures the relative peacefulness of
The European Parliament has voted to adopt a report on Turkey's 2007 progress in accession negotiations. The report from the Foreign Affairs Committee welcomes several recent legislative activities of Turkey, while insisting that the speed of reforms must pick up. The report calls on Turkey to continue its constitutional reforms and, regardless of those reforms, calls for the Turkish penal code, particularly article 301, to be changed.
The European Parliament will be debating Dutch Christian Democrat Ria Oomen-Ruijten's Turkey report today. A total of 28 political groups have
The ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has suspended its plans to prepare constitutional amendments that will prevent the Constitutional Court from closing down the party, the foreign
It is very clear that the Mediterranean Union project is not directed against Turkey, the European Commission's
Turkey's relationship with France has been under stress for quite some time. The tension became apparent after Nicolas Sarkozy's entry to French political life and has reached a peak during his presidency.
Now that the euphoria over the demise of Tassos Papadopoulos' presidency has died down it is becoming clear that even with the new pro-solution Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias in charge there is not going to be a quick solution to the Cyprus issue.
BRUSSELS - European Union`s enlargement commissioner blamed the terrorist organization PKK for "heightening tensions" ahead of traditional spring festival celebrations in southeast Turkey."
There has emerged an optimistic view in Cyprus -- both in the north and the south -- that the dispute on the island could soon be solved. This optimism is due to the fact that both sides of the island have pro-solution governments at the moment.
"Ha!" I joked. "No one really expects the guests to come in formal dinner jackets to a reception starting at 5:30 in the afternoon…" But the polite silence that greeted me on the other end of the phone suggested that to turn up at a reception aboard the HMS Illustrious in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen with anything less than a black tie and a chest full of medals would be equivalent to wearing velour track bottoms and a "my friend went to İstanbul and all I got was this lousy" T-shirt.
The leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, yesterday severely criticized Queen Elizabeth II for hosting a reception on board a British aircraft carrier in Istanbul, arguing that this served as a
By NAZLI ILICAK, SABAH
The interest in Queen Elizabeth was strong; some went to the state reception held for her, others decided to pontificate about it and still others adopted specific stances regarding the reception.
D. Nigar GÖKSEL
Cengiz ÇANDAR
