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Turkish Bosses Demand Democratic Reforms Along With Economic Recovery
ISTANBUL, May 21(AFP)-Turkey's top businessmen urged the government Monday to introduce far-reaching democratic reforms, ranging from death penalty abolution to minority rights, along with IMF-backed reforms to heal the crisis-hit economy.
The demands were listed in a report by one of Turkey's most influential businessmen groupings, TUSIAD.
The reforms that Turkey, a candidate for European Union membership, must fulfill to catch up with the EU's Copenhagen criteria had recently been overshadowed by moves to battle an economic crisis that shook the country in February, TUSIAD President Tuncay Ozilhan said.
"It is high time to comprehend that the rules of democracy are universal just as the rules of economy and we do not constitute an exception in this respect," Ozilhan stressed.
He criticized Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's government and the parliament for failing to take any noteworthy steps towards democratic reforms on Turkey's road to EU membership.
The TUSIAD report called for legal amendments to abolish the death penalty, legalized broadcasts and education in languages other than Turkish and diminish the political role of the military-dominated National Security Council.
The appeals were parallel to a package of reforms 'demanded' by the EU
last November.
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