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EU reacts cautiously to Turkish human rights moves
by Reuters
Posted: Friday, March 30, 2001 02:10 am CST

BRUSSELS, March 19 (Reuters) - The European Commission gave a cautious welcome on Monday to news that Turkey planned to abolish the death penalty and remove curbs on free speech as part of its drive to join the European Union.

Turkey was accepted as an official candidate for EU membership in 1999 but has yet to begin accession negotiations due to concerns over its human rights record. The new pledges on human rights came in a "national programme" for EU membership.

"The Commission welcomes the adoption by Turkey of its national programme for the adoption of the acquis (EU legislation)," the EU's executive arm said in a statement. "(The programme) signifies an important step forward under the current pre-accession process with Turkey," it said.

"The Commission will study the programme in detail and a coordinated reply will be given to the Turkish government." Diplomats in Brussels noted that the programme, however radical, would be difficult to implement given Turkey's political and economic problems. Turkey's coalition government is battling a deep financial crisis.

Greece, Turkey's arch-rival in southeast Europe, was equally cautious in its initial reaction to the news from Ankara. "We welcome any positive reforms and that is exactly what we expect in the European Union... that Turkey use this process towards the EU to develop European standards which will allow them to open up negotiations," Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou told Reuters.

Papandreou, in Brussels for a meeting of EU foreign ministers, noted that the national programme was Turkey's response to the EU's Accession Partnership approved earlier this month by the Union.

This document maps out the political and economic reforms Ankara needs to make to qualify for EU membership. "The final test will be whether they (the Turks) live up to the accession partnership or not," said Papandreou.

Despite a thaw in their tense relations, Turkey and Greece remain at odds over territorial disputes in the Aegean Sea and over the status of the divided island of Cyprus, also an EU candidate country. The new national programme lists abolition of the death penalty, which Turkey has not used since the mid-1980s, as a medium-term goal, leaving the decision to parliament.

Turkey, a mostly Muslim country of 65 million, has coveted EU membership for decades, but in recent years has watched a dozen other countries, mostly from ex-communist eastern Europe, leapfrog over its own bid.

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