25 March 2002

2. "F-16s Bomb Turk Kurd Rebels in Iraq - Kurd Sources", warplanes have hammered Turkish Kurdish guerrilla encampments in northern Iraq, killing about 25 rebels, but it was not immediately clear where the aircraft were from, Iraqi Kurdish sources said on Saturday.

3. "EU says membership bid has boosted Turkey reforms", EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen says the prospect of EU membership encouraged Turkey to make considerable progress on reforms and 'soften its tone over Cyprus'.

4. "Government seeks death penalty by-pass", Prime Ministry writes to Council of State asking whether death penalty could be scrapped by just legislating a law, without making a constitutional amendment.

5. "Caspian Pipline construction efforts move vorward", efforts to build Caspian Basin export routes are continuing, even as the littoral states wrangle over control of the region's abundant natural resources.

6. "11 September and Turkey-EU relations", From the speech delivered by the Ambassador of Spain, Manuel de la Camara, at the Strategic Research Center on March 21.

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1. - BBC - "Kurds celebrate in Turkey":

23 March / By Jonny Dymond

In the city of Diytarbakir, the talk was of democracy and freedom.

Hundreds of thousands of people streamed out of the city, wriggled through neverending police checkpoints and gathered to rejoice, to wave flags, to chant and to sing.

This was the third year that the overwhelmingly Kurdish population had been allowed by the government to celebrate Nevroz.

The festival - known as Nowruz in other countries - is enjoyed across the Middle East and Central Asia in different ways.

For some it is the beginning of spring; for the Kurds it has become a reaffirmation of their identity.

The legend behind the festival is one which would inspire any oppressed group. Years ago, it is said, a Mesopotamian emperor was slaughtering children and eating their brains.

But a blacksmith, one of whose children had been taken from him, broke into the emperor's palace, slew the evil ruler.

To celebrate and to tell those outside that he had succeeded, he then set a fire inside the palace.

Boisterous crowd

Fire is still an important part of the ceremony of Kurdish Nevroz.

In the field outside Diyarbakir where the celebrations took place any semblance of control was lost after the first fire was lit in front of the main stage.

The crowd surged forward cheering as within minutes the sky was thick with black smoke as fires were lit around the field.

The mood inside the festival area was mixed; overwhelmingly joyful, but with anger and frustration as well. Turkey's Kurds do not get a good deal.

The government refuses to grant its 12 million strong Kurdish minority rights and does all it can to hinder the maintenance of Kurdish identity.

Political message

Broadcasting in Kurdish is forbidden as is the teaching of Kurdish in schools.

Kurds have been arrested for using the language on wedding invitations or giving their children Kurdish names.

So Nevroz is a day when Kurds can celebrate being Kurds - and outside Diyarbakir, that is what they did, waving the yellow flag of Hadep, the Kurdish political party (itself under legal threat) and the red green and yellow Kurdish colour.

Nevroz is a celebration of the Kurdish identity

There was another side to the boisterous crowd.

Now and then a chant would be taken up of 'Long live Apo' or 'Freedom for Apo', a reference to the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish paramilitary group the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan.

Ocalan is loathed by the vast majority of Turks, who blame him for the thousands of deaths during the Turkish state's civil war with the Kurds of the 1980s and 90s.

'A beautiful time'

But Kurdish politicians at the festival were not interested in that side of Kurdish identity. The Mayor of Diyarbakir was overjoyed with the celebrations:

"Nevroz" he said, "has been celebrated with a great enthusiasm for the last two years by our people who seek brotherhood and democracy.

"It's a very beautiful time, and people can express their democratic demands"

The festival was, he said, three things: a cultural celebration, a political event, and a party.

The Turkish government, after having long resisted Nevroz , has tried to take it for its own. It says it embraces the holiday - but only on its own terms.

The authorities in Istanbul refused permission for Nevroz celebrations to be held because Hadep had spelt the festival name the Kurdish way - with a 'w' rather than a 'v'.

Around 400 people have been detained in Istanbul.

In the southern coastal city of Mersin, where celebrations were banned, one man was killed during demonstrations, crushed to death between and armoured personnel carrier and a mosque.

Nobody knew about that in Diyabarkir; though as the rain and hail fell, spirits were dampened.

And word would soon spread about the deaths and the demonstrations. It will be a long time for the Kurds before Nevroz is simply a holiday.

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2. - Reuters - "F-16s Bomb Turk Kurd Rebels in Iraq - Kurd Sources":

TUNCELI / By Ferit Demir / March 23

Warplanes have hammered Turkish Kurdish guerrilla encampments in northern Iraq, killing about 25 rebels, but it was not immediately clear where the aircraft were from, Iraqi Kurdish sources said on Saturday.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which administers northern Iraq, said it saw the aircraft bombing areas on Kandil Mountain in the region late on Thursday.

"Four F-16s flying from the direction of Turkey bombed four separate points as PKK guerrillas celebrated Newroz," PUK sources in northern Iraq told Reuters in Tunceli, eastern Turkey, by telephone. "A high number of PKK were killed."

The PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) has thousands of rebels based in the area. On Thursday, they celebrated the traditional new year holiday Newroz.

They had lit fires for the festival, making them easily identifiable, the PUK official said.

Mezopotamya TV, a Europe-based satellite broadcaster, reported 25 rebels had been killed in the bombing, quoting PKK sources.

Turkish military sources based near Tunceli declined comment on the PUK and PKK reports, but said there had been military action in the region.

Turkish troops regularly cross the border in pursuit of PKK rebels encamped in northern Iraq, which Iraqi Kurds wrested from Baghdad's control in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War.

U.S. and British warplanes based in Turkey have since patrolled a no-fly zone over northern Iraq to protect the enclave administered by the rival PUK and Kurdistan Democratic Party.

The Turkish military says some 5,000 PKK fighters have been based in the region since Turkish special forces captured rebel commander Abdullah Ocalan in 1999. Ocalan has ordered his followers to withdraw from Turkey and abandon their armed struggle for a Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey.

More than 30,000 people have died since fighting between the PKK and Turkish troops erupted in southeastern Turkey in 1984.

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3. - Turkish Daily News - "EU says membership bid has boosted Turkey reforms":

ATHENS / 24 March

EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen says the prospect of EU membership encouraged Turkey to make considerable progress on reforms and 'soften its tone over Cyprus’.

The prospect of EU membership has encouraged Turkey to make considerable progress on reforms and "soften its tone over Cyprus," EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said on Friday.

"The country has started to undergo a very far-reaching process of political and economic reform," Verheugen told reporters after meeting Greek Alternate Foreign Minister Tasos Yiannitsis.

"I found it very promising that nobody repeated the threats which we have seen in the last years," Verheugen said.

That was a reference to Turkey's threat to annex the northern third of Cyprus if the Greek Cypriot government in the southern part won the island admission to the European Union, as scheduled, by 2004.

The eastern Mediterranean island, divided into Turkish Cypriot northern Cyprus and Greek Cypriot southern Cyprus since 1974 following a 1974 Turkish intervention triggered by a Greek Cypriot coup engineered by the military, then ruling Greece, is a frontrunner for EU membership.

It is expected to sign its entry into the wealthy bloc by 2003, together with Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta.

"I have no doubt that without the European accession strategy, that would not have happened," said Verheugen, who visited Ankara a few weeks ago.

Turkey, eager to accelerate the start of entry talks into the 15-nation bloc, has been preparing a swathe of liberalising reforms designed to meet membership criteria.

Polls show most Turks favour EU membership, which they associate with prosperity and greater democratic freedoms. Parts of the governing coalition want a clear date for the opening of EU membership talks by the end of the year.

But nationalists and the powerful military remain sceptical of the benefits of EU membership.

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4. - Turkish Daily News - "Government seeks death penalty by-pass":

Prime Ministry writes to Council of State asking whether death penalty could be scrapped by just legislating a law, without making a constitutional amendment

ANKARA / March 24

The Prime Ministry has written to the Council of State and asked its opinion on whether the country could abolish the death penalty by legislating a law, without making an amendment to the Constitution.

The application to the Council of State was made on Thursday. The First Department of the Council of State is expected to meet next week and decide on the application of the government.

The issue of whether there was need to make a constitutional amendment before Parliament could lift the death penalty, by making an amendment to the Penal Code, caused a heated debate last month when Motherland Party (ANAP) leader Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz suggested lifting capital punishment.

Since the start of the debate on the issue, a consensus has been established among the politicians that as the Constitution only defines under what circumstances courts could issue death sentences, and there was no clear constitutional stipulation defining what crimes ought to be punished with the capital penalty, there was no need to make a constitutional amendment.

The lifting of the death penalty was omitted from the reform package on the agenda of Parliament as the coalition partners could not reconcile their differences in the scope of the lifting.

While the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and the ANAP of Yilmaz want the death penalty totally lifted, the MHP strongly opposes the move and wants the death penalty to be retained for crimes of terrorism, as well as for times of war.

The draft lifting the death penalty except for crimes of terrorism and during times of war or threat of war is currently on the agenda of the three-way coalition government and is expected to be presented to Parliament before the end of this month.

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5. - Eurasianet - "Caspian Pipline construction efforts move vorward":

March 24 / by Ariel Cohen

Efforts to build Caspian Basin export routes are continuing, even as the littoral states wrangle over control of the region's abundant natural resources.

A major priority for the United States is the construction of a pipeline from Azerbaijan, via Georgia, to Turkey - known colloquially as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route. Zeki Cakan, Turkey's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, visited Washington in mid March to firm up the US government's commitment to pipeline construction.

A consortium led by the international major British Petroleum is wrapping up the Detailed Engineering Phase of the construction, which is scheduled for completion by mid-June. In July 2002, the consortium expects to begin land acquisition and construction of the 1,730-kilometer (over 1,000 miles) pipeline, including the Turkish section of 1,070 kilometers. The pipeline's projected completion date is now 2005. The project is estimated to cost $2.9 billion. Turkey has promised to cover $1.4 billion - the costs of construction on its territory. Ankara hopes to recoup its investment by charging transit tariffs.

The BP-led consortium will seek 70 percent of the funding from international financial organizations, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is the private financing arm of the World Bank. US government support for the project is viewed as crucial for the ultimate success of the venture, given the high level of expected international organization financing.

In Washington, Cakan confirmed that a natural gas pipeline from the Azerbaijani field of Shah Deniz would be built along the Baku-Ceyhan oil route. Thus, the gas project will capitalize on costly engineering work performed for the oil route. The gas pipeline capacity is expected to be 6.6 billion cubic meters a year. As Turkey already plans to receive large quantities of natural gas through the Blue Stream pipeline from Russia - a pipeline which is supposed to cross the Black Sea - Ankara will try to sell the Azerbaijani gas to third countries, possibly including Israel. Turkey's main contractor for the project will be BOTASH, the national gas company.

The Baku-Ceyhan pipeline is particularly attractive for Turkey as it will reduce tanker traffic in the congested Bosphorus. The pipeline, at its peak capacity of 50 million metric tons a year, should replace 500 large tanker-runs per year.

The pipeline will provide the main export route for oil found at the Caspian Sea shelf off Azerbaijan. In addition, talks are being conducted between the international major ChevronTexaco and the Baku-Ceyhan consortium to allow shipping of some Kazakhstani oil through the pipeline in the future.

Today, oil from the vast Tengiz field is pumped by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) route to the Russian port of Novorossiisk. However, other major finds in Kazakhstan, such as the giant Kashagan field, have few outlets to the global markets. The Russian major Lukoil is reportedly also interested to join the Baku-Ceyhan project.

In the background there is fast-growing Yukos, the second largest Russian oil company, which aggressively competes with Lukoil in the regional markets. Yukos may be interested in stepping into the Baku-Ceyhan project if talks with Lukoil fail.

Russian participation in the pipeline project, which bypasses Russia, became possible only recently, when policy-makers in Moscow, who had opposed the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey route in the past, altered their position.

In a new development, Giorgi Chanturia, President of the Georgian International Oil Corporation, has suggested construction of a pipeline from the Russian port of Novorossiisk via the port of Supsa to the Turkish Georgian border.

Recent developments are encouraging for Turkey. Lukoil and Yukos interest indicates that Russia will no longer oppose the project, and provides a buy-in from important players with clout in Moscow. In addition, Turkish officials and executives interpret the deployment of American military advisors in Georgia as a US security commitment to Baku-Ceyhan.

Turkey itself is intent on making considerable investments in increasing Caspian Basin security. The Turkish government is not only is providing substantial assistance to the Georgian and Azerbaijani military establishments, it also has started aiding the Uzbek military. In 2001, Turkey provided $1.5 million in equipment to Uzbekistan. Turkish instructors also trained the Uzbek military in counter-terrorism/counter-insurgency tactics. Turkish military officials say assistance will be ongoing in 2002. Col. Faruk Sengun, the Turkish military attaché to Tashkent, said: "Turkey has suffered much from terrorism. We have decided to help Uzbekistan because we do not want our brothers to suffer from the same," the Anatolia news agency reported.

Editor's Note: Ariel Cohen, Ph.D., is Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation and the author of "Russian Imperialism: Development and Crisis" (Praeger/Greenwood, 1998).

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6. - Turkish Daily News - "11 September and Turkey-EU relations":

24 March / From the speech delivered by the Manuel de la Camara at the Strategic Research Center on March 21 / Ambassador of Spain /

Due to its history and its geographic location Turkey can play a role in bridging the gap between the Muslim and the Western world. A good example was the excellent initiative to organize a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the EU and the OIC Countries, which took place in Istanbul last February with great success

Turkey can also be a special model due to the long tradition of tolerance existing in Turkish society. The key fact is that in Turkey there can be coexistence and even understanding between people who are "secular" (that is, non religious) and people who feel the religion very deeply. In this respect, Turkey could set a pattern for many in the Muslim world

The terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001 against the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington constituted an event of enormous political significance. For the first time, the US was subject to an attack within its own continental territory. Although the methods used in this terrorist attack were quite unconventional, the NATO Allies felt the need to invoke article 5 of the Washington Treaty, that foresees collective defense against an attack to one of its members.

The US were able to organize in a short time a wide international coalition against the terrorist networks and the Governments that supported them, notably the Taleban regime in Afghanistan.

Militarily, the action has been quite successful and so has been the mobilization of the international Community against the terrorist threat, which should concern all countries of the world.

Although the terrible acts of September 11th cannot be in any way justified, they can be explained as there are some root causes of these incredible acts of hatred.

Actually some expressions used by President Bush such as "the Crusade against terror" were used by extremists who, as Bin Laden, called for a "struggle between Islam and unbelief". These extremists have been able to exploit the anger of many in the Muslim World.

What are the reasons for this anger?

I would mention two which are in my view particularly important.

On the one hand, the tragedy of the Palestinian people and the terrible scenes seen every day on the TV screens reinforced the deep feeling of injustice in many parts of the Muslim World. On the other, the fact that the West had decided to ignore the plight of the masses in many Muslim Countries and supported repressive regimes added to the sense of bitterness against the wealthy and arrogant Western World. It is quite significant that many of the Al Qaeda hijackers that carried out the attacks on September 11th came from two countries which were among America's closest allies in the Middle Eastern region.

It is also significant that Bin Laden, to finance the Al Qaeda terrorist network, was able to take advantage of money that was distributed, supposedly with charitable purposes, in the Balkans, Central Asia, Pakistan and Afghanistan by institutions such as the International Islamic Relief Organization, the Muwafaq Foundation or the Muslim World League.

The reality is that the West's support of undemocratic regimes in the Arab World and the perception of its bias on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict constituted fertile ground for the extremists, who were indoctrinated in Mederssas or mosques throughout the Muslim world. Of course, the West's attitude could be explained by the fact that there was concern that democratic elections would bring radical islamic movements to power.

In the West, the risk of backlash also appeared. After the attacks, many people of Middle Eastern origin were subject to harassment. The presence of large Muslim communities in Europe and the US was now more noticeable and social and religious differences suddenly surfaced.

Many in the West, especially in America, seem to concentrate mainly on the terrorist problem and the threat caused by the development of weapons of mass destruction in the region. I personally believe that it is even more urgent to stop the pointless bloodshed which is taking place in the Occupied Territories and Israel and find a solution to the Palestinian problem. Also, the West should be much more sensitive to the problems arising from the lack of democracy and the plight of large parts of the population in many Muslim countries.

In this difficult context, the role of a country like Turkey with an overwhelmingly Muslim population and a strong vocation to be part of the West, could be crucial.

The fact is that a large part of the middle classes in Turkey are laic Muslims, and are perfectly ready to embrace the values and democratic principles prevalent in the European Union. They would have no difficulty in adapting to EU political, legal and economic standards.

Turkey can also be a special model due to the long tradition of tolerance existing in Turkish society. The key fact is that in Turkey there can be coexistence and even understanding between people who are "secular" (that is, non religious) and people who feel the religion very deeply. In this respect, Turkey could set a pattern for many in the Muslim world.

In the coming years it will also be crucial to see if in Turkey political Islam can evolve into a democratic and responsible force. Some say that this evolution could be a parallel to what led to the appearance of the Christian Democratic parties in Western Europe after World War II. Perhaps the comparison is not very fortunate but it could serve the purpose of our explanation.

Due to its history and its geographic location Turkey can play a role in bridging the gap between the Muslim and the Western world. A good example was the excellent initiative to organize a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the EU and the OIC Countries, which took place in Istanbul last February with great success. It was an event of high political significance and it showed the willingness of European and Muslim officials to engage in productive dialogue even if some important differences exist.

Turkey can also be the place where it is proven that a modern society, political freedom and Islam are fully compatible. Religious belief is undoubtedly a strong force in Turkey and believers should be able to practice, study and debate their religion freely as long as they accept explicitly the secular rule and democracy. This is a great challenge for Turkey which, if successfully managed, could set a magnificent example for the world.

But in order to achieve this, it is essential to overcome some of the fears and build the necessary trust.

Fears must also be overcome to build in Turkey a democracy and a competitive economy that fully respond to the standards of Western European societies. This should be eventually rewarded with Turkey's full membership in the European Union.

I am convinced that Turkey's membership would bring great benefits to both Turkey and the EU. The accession of Turkey would help to stabilize and strengthen security in a strategically crucial part of the world. It would be a major factor in ensuring political stability, social progress and economic prosperity in Turkey. This, in turn, would open great economic opportunities for the Europeans, because it would unleash the enormous dynamism that this country has to offer.

For Turkey, membership in the EU would be a guarantee for freedom and prosperity but it would also provide an enormous psychological boost to this country because it would give a clear response to its long quest for identity. It would be the arrival stage of a long march, the fulfillment of Ataturk's dreams. I personally do not see any other alternative (even if they are occasionally mentioned) that could provide a clearer response to the fundamental question that many Turks ask themselves: who are we?

For Europe, Turkish membership constitutes also an enormous challenge. Not only because Turkey is a very large country with many problems, which would require a lot of support to raise it to the

standards of the rest of the EU. But also because the country lies at the frontier of what we understand as "Europe" and would bring the connection with a Muslim world with which Christian Europe has clashed many times in the past. Some people in Western Europe fear that Turkey's membership would greatly increase Turkish immigration or the illegal flow of people coming from neighboring countries. We cannot deny that for all these reasons there is considerable skepticism among many in Europe about the Turkish membership. But this should be understandable. And I do not think that the obstacles are unsurmountable if there is collective determination in this country and appropriate leadership to that effect both in Turkey and in the EU.

In the December 1999 Helsinki European Council the Heads of State or Government of the EU stated that "Turkey is a candidate State destined to join the Union on the basis of the same criteria as applied to the other candidate States..." and which are these criteria?

They are established in the 1993 Copenhagen European Council: the country must have a democratic political system in which the rule of law prevails, it must respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms and protect its minorities. On the economic side it is requested that the candidate country has a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with the competitive pressures and market forces within the Union. It is also requested that the country proves its capacity to assume the obligations of membership, mainly the so called "acquis communautaire" (Treaties, secondary legislation and policies of the EU). This includes not only the legislative alignment but also the development of the judicial and administrative capacity necessary to implement and enforce the acquis.

As regards Turkey, these basic elements were developed in detail in the Accession Partnership Document approved by the EU Council in March 2001.

How is Turkey performing?

The 2001 Regular Report on Turkey's Progress Towards Accession indicates that: "Despite a number of Constitutional, legislative and administrative changes the actual Human Rights situation needs improvement. Turkey does not yet meet the Copenhagen Political criteria and, therefore, it is encouraged to intensify and accelerate the process of reforms to ensure that Human Rights and fundamental freedoms are fully protected in law and in practice for all citizens throughout the country".

On the economic side, the Report says that: "Confronted with two financial crisis, Turkey has been unable to make further progress towards achieving a functioning market economy. Considerable parts of its economy are, however, already competing in the EU market under the framework of the Customs Union Agreement with the EC".

Regarding the "acquis communautaire", the Report says that the alignment is most advanced in the areas covered by the Customs

Union...further alignment has taken place in these areas. Significant legislation was adopted in the field of banking, including on the Central Bank, and in sectors such as telecommunications, energy and agriculture. However, major discrepancies between the acquis and Turkish legislation have remained. Progress in strengthening administrative capacity to implement the acquis has been limited.

What are the prospect for the future? Does Turkey really have a chance of becoming an EU Member within a reasonable period of time?

The European Council in Laeken has given some response to these questions:

1. It recognized the progress towards complying with the political criteria (Constitutional Amendments).

2. It encouraged Turkey to continue its progress towards complying with political and economic criteria, notably with regard to human rights.

3. It opened up a new stage in analysing its preparedness for the alignment of the acquis.

4. Turkey was invited to participate in the Convention on the Future of Europe under the same conditions as the other Candidate countries. This marked a big difference with regard to the results of the Nice European Council, only a year earlier, which approved the Nice Treaty that included no provisions regarding Turkey.

5. No specific reference was made to Cyprus/bilateral issues.

6. It brought forward the prospect of the opening of accession negotiations.

So we could clearly state that Turkey's candidature has gained credibility in Laeken. But this is obviously not enough. The year 2002 is crucial for Turkey's EU aspirations. At the end of the year we will take decisions on which candidates will join the EU and define a timetable and a reinforced strategy for the ones that will not be able to join. Unless Turkey is given a timetable for the beginning of accession negotiations, its candidature may lose its hardly won credibility. Why?

As from 2004/2005 the EU will have included 8 or 10 new members. It will be a difficult "digestion" as the Union will have to adapt its functioning mechanisms to the new situation, from the present 15 to 25 members. This adaptation will require time and considerable effort. A "pause" may de facto take place in the enlargement process.

If Turkey does not begin accession negotiations in 2003/2004 membership may be delayed for many years. If, however, it is able to open negotiations, this will constitute a powerful stimulus to further political and economic reform and investment, so this, in turn, will strengthen ties between Turkey and the EU.

What are the prospects for beginning negotiations? Will a date for the commencement of these negotiations be identified at the end of 2002?

It is never safe to make predictions, because there may be many factors that will determine the outcome. But the answer lays to a great extent in Turkey itself. Turkey should not appear in place number 13 among the candidate countries but in the leading position. Turkey should not talk about its "uniqueness" and its "specificity" and work hard to fulfill the criteria, which we have described before. Going half way, will not suffice. I wish to be very clear on that. It is necessary, for example, to guarantee the freedom of expression of association and religion; to fully eliminate the practices of torture and punish those who still apply it; the independence of judges must be guaranteed; the cultural and educational rights of the people of kurdish origin must be recognized; the civilian control of the military must be addressed effectively; the death penalty should be abolished, also in the cases of terrorism.

These reforms should not be regarded as concessions to the EU but simply as steps that Turkey should take in any case to become a modern and dynamic country, ready to play its deserved role in the world.

The Harmonization Law 4744, designed to implement a number of the October 2001 Constitutional amendments, was adopted by the Turkish Parliament on 6 February. We note as a positive development that reduced pretrial detention periods have been confirmed and that more favorable rules concerning the right to contact detainee's families have been introduced. These amendments are bringing Turkey closer to EU standards.

We are disappointed, however, with the fact that the proposals on retrial in order to comply with the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights were removed from the package.

As for the provisions related to freedom of expression and thought, I should say frankly that we have doubts about whether the new provisions represent a substantial improvement with regard to the previously existing legislation, because they include notions leaving a broad margin of interpretation to public prosecutors and judges, although the reduction of penalties (imprisonment/fines) in a number of cases is positive. Article 8 of the Anti-terrorist Law seems to have been expanded, rather than reduced, in its scope of application. We note that a second harmonization package implementing in particular Articles 33 (freedom of association) and 34 (peaceful assembly) of the amended Constitution will has been sent to the Grand National Assembly. As we do not know yet the text we cannot give our opinion at this stage.

It is obvious that Turkey is moving along in the process of political and economic reforms. It is not an easy process because it finds resistance from some parts of the political establishment. We know, and understand, that there may be some fears of change, Turkey is located in a difficult and sensitive part of the world. But I think that the Turkish people are mature and ready for this change.

Some people in this country believe that Turkey must be protected from great dangers. It is true that Turkey underwent a long and painful war against separatism and that some of its neighbors are not very stable or even reliable. But these neighbors have themselves many problems and are subject to internal pressures that considerably diminish their supposed threat. And the situation regarding separatism has considerably improved in the last two years.

We, in the EU, should be more helpful in this respect and extend to Turkey our full cooperation regarding actions against those organizations that have used terror against this country.

Allow me, without forgetting the differences, to speak a little about the Spanish experience. I remember very well a rainy November morning when the then President of the Government, Mr. Carlos Arias Navarro, a longstanding Francoist, appeared on the TV screens with eyes full of tears to announce Franco's death and read the General's "political will". In his will, Franco urged the Spaniards to "be watchful, because the enemies of Spain lie in waiting...". When Franco died -in November 1975- after almost 40 years of dictatorship, many in Spain thought that chaos, anarchy and disintegration of the country would ensue. Nothing of this happened and by the end of that decade Spain was a democracy fully comparable to the other countries in Western Europe and to some respects more advanced than some of them. Nonetheless, it took 8 years since the new Constitution entered into force until Spain was able to join the EU and even then, long transition periods (10 years for some of our most competitive agricultural products, 15 years for the fisheries sector) were imposed upon us.

But the benefits have been enormous. In 15 years, Spain was able to reduce roughly 18 percentage points in the difference between its GDP per capita and the EU average. Within the current financial perspectives (2000-2006), Spain will obtain financial assistance from the EU "Structural Funds" in the amount of almost 40 billion Euro (which will require additional national co-financing of about 20 billion Euro). In the last 15 years, Spain's infrastructures, industries and agriculture have been totally transformed. The Aznar Government was determined to make Spain a founding member of the EURO and took the appropriate structural measures. He achieved it and won the respect of the other European leaders, allowing Spain to shed its "Club Med" image almost overnight.

When Spain was knocking at the door of the EC we had some advantage: the goal of membership had always enjoyed the enthusiastic support of all major social and political actors so that the successive Governments were able to "blame the EU" for some painful reforms.

Although the present circumstances of Turkey are very different of Spain's, we believe that Turkey can also do it. The rewards, as we have seen, are enormous but it is without doubt a big challenge both for Turkey and for the EU.