Untitled Document

20 December 2004

1. "Still Far from EU Standards of Press Freedom", Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said that Turkey is still far from meeting European press freedom standards as the European Council prepares to decide on 17 December whether or not to open negotiations on Turkish EU membership.

2. "IHD: Human rights improved over past decade", Human Rights Association (IHD) President Yusuf Alatas said yesterday that human rights in Turkey had improved over the past decade but that the advances were inadequate and needed to be expanded.

3. "Turkish demonstrations recall prison killings", demonstrators took to the streets of Istanbul Sunday to commemorate the death of 30 prisoners exactly four years earlier in a military crackdown on jailed hunger-strikers and political protesters.

4. "The dark side of Turkey's dream", poverty and pollution cloud Turkey's bid to join the EU.

5. "Ankara line is not sufficient by itself, Diyarbakir line is necessary, too", the head of KONGRA-GEL (Kurdistan People's Congress) Zubeyir Aydar by stating he finds it a date for starting negotiation to be given Turkey positive said a new period had started for Turks and Kurds. Pointing out the Kurds were not satisfied at the announcement of the European heads, Aydar emphasized that Turkey had many problems leading Kurd Problem to solve.

6. "French President Chirac Interprets The Summit And Kurdish Problem", Chirac said the Kurdish problem would be solved within the framework of Copenhagen Criteria. Taking attention to the existence of the Criteria which point out respect for human rights.

7. "Divided Turkey faces long road to EU membership", Turkey has always shown two faces: One, confidently pointing toward Europe, is wealthy, urban, and secular; another, gazing eastward, is poor, rural, and devoutly Muslim.

8. "Turkey: Europe Could Be a Decade Away", Turkey would become the largest EU member, because its population is expected to surpass that of Germany by 2020.

1. - Bianet - "Still Far from EU Standards of Press Freedom":

The legislative progress that has undeniably been made should not conceal the fact that the climate remains as harsh as ever for the most outspoken journalists, the worldwide press freedom organization said.

PARIS / 17 December 2004

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said that Turkey is still far from meeting European press freedom standards as the European Council prepares to decide on 17 December whether or not to open negotiations on Turkish EU membership.

European deputies voted on 15 December for the discussions to start without ³needless delay but on the basis of Ankara complying with certain conditions.

In particular they are seeking the repeal of Article 305 of Turkey¹s new criminal code, that comes into effect on 1st April 2005 and which they consider runs contrary to freedom of expression.

The press is exposed to misuse of authority by the courts, which in practice continue to impose prison sentences and exorbitant fines that push journalists to censor themselves extensively on the most sensitive subjects such as the army and the Kurdish question," Reporters Without Borders said.

The TV and radio stations are still subject to "brazen censorship" by the High Council for Broadcasting (RTUK), while pro-Kurdish journalists continue to be the target of many kinds of pressure, the organization continued.

"Despite progress towards European standards, the gap between the declarations of good intentions and the reality is still considerable, with the result that Turkey still does not fulfill all the necessary conditions for real press freedom," it added.

Genuine progress made

The legislative amendments undertaken by Turkey with a view to joining the European Union have been positive for journalists. Heavy fines have replaced prison sentences in the new press law, adopted in June.

The most repressive sanctions, such as the closure of news organizations or bans on printing and distribution, have been eliminated, while the protection of sources has even been reinforced.

Article 159, which has led to many journalists being prosecuted for "affront to the state and state institutions and threats to the indivisible unity of the Turkish Republic," was amended in 2002 and 2003, with the prison sentence being cut from one year to six months.

At the same time, criticism not intentionally aimed at "ridiculing" or "insulting" state institutions is no longer punishable by imprisonment.

Journalists still under pressure

Even though the new criminal code that becomes law on 1st April 2005 removes the offence of "mocking and insulting government ministers", there remains a problem with Article 305.

This punishes alleged threats against fundamental national interests². It specifically targets freedom of expression, particularly on issues involving Cyprus or Armenia.

The European parliament voted on 15 December for a resolution calling, among other things, for the immediate repeal of this article, viewed as incompatible with the 1950 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Contrary to European standards, the new criminal code stipulates that insult is punishable by three months to three years in prison, with the sentence increasing if the offence is committed by means of the press (Article 127).

In practice, judges still interpret the concept of "criticism" very subjectively and abusive prosecutions continue.

Four journalists with the pro-Kurdish daily Yeniden Özgür Gündem who criticised government policy on the Iraq war were brought before the courts in 2003 while online journalist Erol Öskoray was detained for "mocking" and "insulting" the army.

Sabri Ejder Öziç, the manager of Radyo Dünya, a local radio station in the southern city of Adana, was sentenced to a year in prison for offending parliament.

Hakan Albayrak, a former editorialist for the daily Milli Gazete, was imprisoned on 20 May and is serving a 15-month prison sentence for "attacking the memory of Ataturk" in violation of the 1951 law governing crimes against Kemal Ataturk.

Article 1 of this law punishes any offence against the Republic of Turkey's founder by one to three years in prison. Article 2 doubles the sentence if it is committed by means of the press.

On 15 October, Sebati Karakurt of the daily Hurriyet was held for 12 hours at the headquarters of the anti-terrorist police in Istanbul and some 10 policemen searched his home.

It stemmed from a report published a few days earlier that included an interview with Murat Karayilan, the military chief of the former Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), now renamed Kongra-Gel.

The report included photos showing female rebels in combat fatigues in a favorable light, relaxed and smiling. Karakurt was released after being interrogated by the police and a prosecutor.

Memik Horuz, the managing editor of the far-left newspaper Isci Koylu, has spent years in prison for the views he expressed in the course of their journalistic work.

Pro-Kurdish media targeted

While the national radio and TV stations are now allowed to use the Kurdish language, the RTUK continues to impose disproportionate sanctions ranging from warnings to withdrawal of license against pro-Kurdish media or media that are very critical of the government.

Özgür Radyo, a local radio station in Istanbul, was sentenced by the RTÜK to a month's closure for "inciting violence, terror, discrimination on the basis of race, region, language, religion or sect or the broadcasting of programmes that arouse feelings of hatred in society."

The station stopped broadcasting on 18 August. In the event of a further offence, the RTÜK could withdraw its license altogether.

Günes TV, a local television station in the eastern city of Malatya, was also forced to stop broadcasting for a month from 30 March.

This was because the RTÜK accused it of "attacking the state's existence and independence, and the country's indivisible unity with the people and Ataturk's principles and reforms" under article 4 of RTÜK law 3984.

Using the same article, the RTÜK closed down local TV station ART in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir on 15 August 2003 for broadcasting two love songs in Kurdish.

Mass detentions of pro-Kurdish journalists by the anti-terrorist police on the eve of the NATO summit in Istanbul on 28-29 June 2004 were also indicative of the treatment reserved for the pro-Kurdish press.

Finally, nine journalists covering the dispersal of protesters against electoral fraud were badly beaten by police in Diyarbakir during the 28 March local elections and three of them had to be hospitalized. Those responsible have still not been punished.

2. - Turkish Daily News - "IHD: Human rights improved over past decade":

ANKARA / 19 December 2004

Human Rights Association (IHD) President Yusuf Alatas said yesterday that human rights in Turkey had improved over the past decade but that the advances were inadequate and needed to be expanded.

Speaking at a press conference, Alatas said that compared to European Union standards, the progress made so far was inadequate, noting that now was not the time to celebrate achievements but rather to concentrate all efforts on making further advancements.

"A process of progress and development is evident in every area. ... We're on the right track, but there's still a lot to do," he said.

He said he was sure the EU would give Turkey a date to start negotiations, adding: "As the IHD, we have no political stance with respect to the EU. We aren't saying Turkey should or shouldn't become a member of the EU. We support it if it will have a positive influence on the country's efforts to develop its democracy and human rights; however, we must recognize that Turkey's democratization process did not start, nor will it end, with the EU."

3. - AFP - "Turkish demonstrations recall prison killings":

ISTANBUL / 19 December 2004

Demonstrators took to the streets of Istanbul Sunday to commemorate the death of 30 prisoners exactly four years earlier in a military crackdown on jailed hunger-strikers and political protesters.

About 2,000 demonstrators, accusing Turkey of being an "assassin state," marched in the Kadikoy district on Istanbul's Asian, an AFP photographer said.

The Anatolia news agency said police foiled another demonstration organized by prisoners' families on the central Independence avenue on the European side, and detained 17 people.

A third demonstration took place without incident outside the Bayrampassa prison, Anatolia said.

The prison revolt in 2000, in which about two dozen people died in hunger strikes, was sparked by the introduction of high-security prisons, characterized by tiny isolation cells.

In the crackdown, called "operation return to life," hundreds of detainees were transferred to the new prison wings.

4. - The Observer - "The dark side of Turkey's dream":

Poverty and pollution cloud Turkey's bid to join the EU

19 December 2004 / by Jonny Dymond

More than 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) from the the conference centre in Brussels where Turkey's European destiny was hammered out on Friday sits the city of Kars, in the far north-east of the country. From Kars you can see Turkey's borders with Armenia and Georgia, frontiers which, if negotiations are successful, will form the eastern edge of the European Union a decade from now.
Kars is a miserable place. Once it was rich; its broad boulevards and the few remaining grand Russian and Armenian traders' houses are a reminder of days when the city was a prized possession of the Russian empire and trade brought wealth and style.

Until the Sixties, says Erol Huryurt, owner of the city newspaper that bears his name, there was money; he remembers the Azeri opera and a Viennese orchestra coming to town.

'When I was a child,' says Huryurt, 'I used to go round distributing the paper. The shop owners wore suits, they were so clean cut and polite. They knew how to behave. Now it's all changed.'

A page from one of the earliest copies of the paper (circulation just 400) hangs on his office wall next to the 150-year-old printing press that cranked out every copy of the paper until last year.

Beneath the lead story advising readers about the latest machinations of the President Dwight Eisenhower about half a century ago is an article telling of a ball to be held in the city centre. 'All the night will be full of surprises,' the paper says.

The only surprise you find in Kars in the evenings now is if there is anyone on the streets. By night the centre is deserted. Many of the streets are pitch black, lighting being a luxury the city cannot afford. In the day Kars has a worn-out feeling, with shabby shops selling dusty merchandise, unemployed men gathering at street corners like unwanted rubbish.

Like much of Turkey, Kars looks to the EU to sort out its problems. Residents hope the country's membership will bludgeon their government into reopening the border with Armenia, closed since 1993, believing trade will again flow from Armenia and the Caucasus beyond.

The city has received attention recently because it is the setting for the most recent book, Snow, by Turkey's renowned novelist, Orhan Pamuk. Appearing at one of the Turkey-EU conferences that have become a feature of Istanbul life in the past year, Pamuk stirred a sleepy audience to wild applause with ringing praise for the change Turkey has undergone in the past few years.

'The EU must understand its powers of transformation. Had we discussed the issues we have talked about today six or seven years ago we'd have been condemned as traitors. The hope of joining the EU can change a country,' said the author, who has best informed the outside world about Turkey's struggles to understand itself.

'We are changing, we are leaving an identity. We are stepping outside our muddy shoes.'

Turkey's political transformation, on paper at least, has been breathtaking in speed and scale. Less than a decade ago the military, which had launched three coups since 1960, eased the Islamist government out of power. Turkey was a byword for human rights abuse and systematic torture.

In just four years there has been a near-revolutionary change in the judicial and constitutional infrastructure. The death penalty has been abolished, civil and criminal codes overhauled. Education and broadcasting in Kurdish, a language embraced by up to a fifth of the population, has been legalised. Penalties for torture have been raised and the military pushed out of positions of influence.

What happens in parliament in Ankara is one thing. Change on the ground is another, however. Across the country's troubled south-east, which bore the brunt of the Kurdish insurrection of the Eighties and Nineties and the state's brutal response to it, security forces are on high alert. Kongra-Gel, the Kurdish paramilitary group once called the PKK, has renounced its five-year ceasefire. Human rights groups say more than 400 people have died since the summer.

There are signs the security forces have learnt some lessons from the days when their heavy-handed response to the PKK fed the Kurdish resistance. Hundreds of thousands - maybe millions - of Kurds were forced from their homes. It was a brutal operation, often conducted at the end of a tank barrel. Villages were burnt, crops destroyed, animals slaughtered.

Tunceli, an eastern province, was once criss-crossed with military checkpoints; journalists sneaked in past the security forces to where around 2,000 paramilitaries hid and operated from the Munzur mountains. Now most checkpoints have gone but on one of the roads out of the province's capital one still observes military comings and goings. But a sign apologises to travellers for any inconvenience and wishes drivers a safe journey.

It's good public relations, but the Kurdish conflict is not entirely banished. In Mardin province last month a lorry driver, Ahmet Kaymaz, and his 12 -year-old son Ugur were shot dead by the security forces outside their home. Eleven bullets were pumped into the boy's back. The authorities said they were terrorists. Ugur was wearing his slippers. Shooting first, and asking questions much later, is a habit that dies hard.

Yet Turkey's painful political transformation is as nothing compared with what is to come. Over the next decade Turkey will have to put the the EU's 80,000 page rule book, into law.

Regulations on everything from food hygiene to child labour and bidding for local authority contracts will have to change. Heather Grabbe, at the office of the EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, says the new central European members believe spending on EU compliance has cost them between three and four per cent of their gross domestic product.

Turkey, juggling a mountain of debt, has no money to spare. And the private sector will feel the pain too.

As night falls on Gaziantep, a south-eastern city near the Syrian border, a belt of blackness hovers around the city. It looks almost romantic; but it is industrial pollution.

The pollution reaches into the city centre where the air has a gritty, slightly soupy quality. Once Turkey starts implementing EU pollution standards, this will have to go. But, wondered one EU diplomat, what will be reaction when factories start to close because they cannot or will not pay to clean up their act?

Wander through Gaziantep's streets, and at every turn you see things that must change. The butchers who smoke as they cut meat on premises devoid of refrigeration are in for a rude shock.

'It will,' says Cengiz Candar, a former adviser to the late President Turgut Ozal, 'be a very difficult process. It will be difficult to swallow, and if it is swallowed it will be very difficult to digest.'

Candar believes next year will see a rise in support for nationalist parties, as Turks vent their spleen on an EU demanding everything and giving little back.

Just a few minutes drive from the relatively prosperous centre of Gaziantep lies the neighbourhood of Beydile, a classic Turkish shanty town. Breeze-block houses are thrown up at night to avoid building regulations, and the electricity, much of it purloined from power lines, comes and goes.

Families with seven or eight children are common: the people of Beydile fled from further east to escape the troubles of the Kurdish insurrection. But they brought with them the rural poverty they fled.

Many speak of Europe as if it were a pot of gold; many also express hope that their children might escape to the sunlit uplands of the EU. It is difficult to see what their barely educated children would do there, except live in a different kind of poverty, devoid of the community that just about keeps things together in Gaziantep.

Not all of Turkey is like this; but too much of it is for European tastes. The country, says David Judson, the American-born editor of the Turkish financial newspaper Referans, is sharply divided.

'If western Turkey were integrating with the EU you'd be talking about a country with a per capita income roughly approaching that of Greece. When you add in the eastern Turkey, parts of which resemble Afghanistan, you are dealing with a whole different set of issues.'

The bitter wrangle over the recognition of Cyprus cast a shadow over Turkey's triumph in Brussels; just three years ago such a result would have been inconceivable. 'This was a critical point in history,' says Kemal Koprulu, a member of one of Turkey's most pro-EU think-tanks.

Stirring stuff. But it feels a long way from the checkpoints of Tunceli, the shanty towns of Gaziantep and the lonely streets of Kars. Turkey and the EU have taken a leap into the dark; never has the EU taken on a challenge the size of Turkey; and never in a candidate have expectations been so high.

The threat of disappointment, even disaster, will be a constant companion on Turkey's long journey.

5. - DIHA/ROJ-TV - "Zubeyir Aydar: Ankara line is not sufficient by itself, Diyarbakir line is necessary, too":

BRUSSELS / 18 December 2004

Head of KONGRA-GEL (Kurdistan People's Congress) Zubeyir Aydar by stating he finds it a date for starting negotiation to be given Turkey positive said a new period had started for Turks and Kurds. Pointing out the Kurds were not satisfied at the announcement of the European heads, Aydar emphasized that Turkey had many problems leading Kurd Problem to solve.

Zübeyir Aydar stating no satisfying results came out of the 16-17 summit emphasized that the Cyprus Question had become the most significant matter of the EU summit and, the European leaders should pay more attention to the sensitivity of the Kurds. Diyarbakir line in addition to Ankara may be thought is necessary. ''By references to the old reports Kurd Problem has been passed over implicitly. According to information we obtained, during the contacts with Turkey the point in question has been discussed but not clearly laid before the Turkish state by the EU. In the final communiqué, the mater in consideration has been passed over by human rights and Copenhagen Criteria being just spoken of. This is the parry of the Kurd Problem, and an attempt to please Turkey.'' Aydar says.

'The Kurds were not satisfied at proclamation'

Aydar stated that the EU wants to spread the Kurd Question over time and, it is necessary to see the Kurds as the drawee and side of the process and to consider their sensitivity. ''Kurds are the drawee and part of this matter. The EU cannot come to a conclusion by only taking the sensitiveness of Turkey. A 20-millon group Kurds' demands and concerns must be paid attention. There has appeared no satisfying result for the Kurdish society. Cyprus problem became the most important issue of the summit but a problem 50 times more crucial than the Cypriot matter has been passed over. Kurds did find this attitude appropriate and are criticizing it. We can not say that this subject was not talked about at all and Kurds were entirely taken out of consideration but the issue did not reflect on the reports as we wanted.''

'The Dec.15 report to have been regarded as basis was positive'

Aydar, who found it the EU Heads' regarding the Dec. 15 report of the European Parliament(EP) as basis and their references to the report positive, said: ''We were criticizing the Oct. 6 report. The word processing of 15 December shows the way of dialog and peace in the direction of the solution of Kurd Problem. That the EP did make a call for cease-fire and dialog and it gave the example of Spain evidences a serious approach.'' he said.

'We are going to produce policies fit to the period''

Head of KONGRA-GEL states that the Kurd side is every time open to dialog and a new era for which new policies should be yielded has begun for themselves, Kurds. ''We will review our policies and develop some best fit to the term. The Kurds should be considered as the main element of the talks. Ankara by itself is not enough but also there is a need for Diyarabakir line. Will of Diyarbakir must be taken into account. The source of all problems in Turkey is the Kurd Question. Turkey can be ready for the EU provided that it solves this matter. Both the Turkish state and the EU should receive Kurds' peace message. We, Kurds of the North, should review our politics and develop ones appropriate to the soul of era. There is a new period ahead for us, Turkey and Kurdistan have been changing as well the sociey. We, as the Kurdish representatives and organizations must fulfill our duties for which we have responsibilities.'' Aydar says.

Diplomacy-weighted work

Diplomacy would take a more weighted-place in the Kurdish policy pointing out Aydar said: ''Our aim is to gather all the Kurdish institutions under a joint coordination and to be dominant over the next period. In this connection, we by re-organizing ourselves will review our politics regarding this innovation and be the intervening part of the process. Turkey should value truly the EU peak. Turkey encouraged by the European community inclines to attack. Turkey should not misunderstand the summit and say 'I act as I want'. Top-level governors of Turkey should interpret the Dec.17 gathering in a right manner .Turkey cannot go forward on the way to the EU, if this peak misinterpreted."

Head of KONGRA-GEL says:

Europe cannot take the matter in hand within the scope of personal rights and those of human rights. How these problems have been solved in Europe is clear. There groups similar to Kurds in Europe, namely, in England, Spain, Italy and Belgium. There are peoples living together there e.g. Belgium.
Kurd Problem will be the central issue of the EU-Turkey relations. Even if the Cypriot and Greece matters have historical depth, they can be solved. The Kurdish one is more complex and will be a determining aspect in the future of Turkey connected with the EU to be designed, about which concerns several sides.

6. - ROJ-TV - "French President Chirac Interprets The Summit And Kurdish Problem":

18 December 2004

French President Jacques Chirac stating he expected the candidacy of Turkey to the European Union (EU) would bring the principles of peace, dialog and especially respect with, interpreted the given date for negotiations as "If we remain engage for 15 years, this will result in a happy marriage."

In a press conference held in Brussels, Jacques Chirac , the president of France where was on the focus of the most intensive debates before the Oct. 17 summit of the EU, made crucial statements on the given date for starting talks, Cyprus and Kurdish problems. He emphasized that the date to be handed to Turkey does not mean candidateship and, gave the message Turkey should make great attempts to access to the European community. If Turkey does not make the required efforts and the unity decrees Turkey not to have done or not to want to do so, the EU will stand on a strong formula of relationship out of candidacy.'' President Chirac said and stated the way of parley was ''long and hard''.

'Turkey has many steps to take''

To question ''Will you make a call on Turkey, which has been fighting with Kurdish guerillas for 30 years, to start a dialog with the Kurdish side'', Mr.Chirac said the problem would be solved within the framework of Copenhagen Criteria. Taking attention to the existence of the Criteria which point out respect for human rights, the French President said: ''This should be implemented into practice for the Kurds, as should for the others. These criteria to be imbibed by Turkey will bring forth effects especially for the Kurds, too. One of the important problems is deliberation. If we believe the conditions of respect for human rights not to be fulfilled, this should be imposed upon ''He expressed that Turkey had many steps to take on that way, and warned the Turkish state that the debate will be stopped in case of Turkey violated human right.'' To enter this culture is needed. I hope the negotiations and the candidateship of Turkey bring the principles of peace, dialog and particularly respect with it. We call this Copenhagen Criteria, which will open the way of peace and dialog.'' he added.

If Cyprius is not recognized, the talks end'

By stating that Turkey was ready for signing the protocol related with the Ankara Agreement on the Cyprus Issue, Chirac emphasized the negotiations would end in case Cyprus was not recognized. He expressed a wish of marriage between the Turkish state and the EU by saying :'' If we stay engaged for 15 years, I believe, this will lead up to a marriage.''

'France is very sensitive about Armenians subject'

The president answering a question stated France was very sensitive especially about the Armenian problem and said that France opened its gates to Armenians in 1915 and there is an Armenian society well-integrated with the state. He also recorded that Turkey should have made a memorial examination on Armenian issue, otherwise Turkey would incur an intervention of the French people in the referendum to be held for the candidacy of Turkey to the EU.

7. - Boston Globe - "Divided Turkey faces long road to EU membership":

Turkey has always shown two faces: One, confidently pointing toward Europe, is wealthy, urban, and secular; another, gazing eastward, is poor, rural, and devoutly Muslim.

ISTANBUL / 18 December 2004 / by Charles M. Sennott

Yesterday, the 25 leaders of the European Union capped a two-day summit in Brussels by agreeing to start negotiations with Turkey in October 2005 on eventual membership in the organization - but only if it can become a nation fully grounded in the European ideals of democracy, equality, and respect for human rights.

The decision is fraught with economic, political, and strategic significance for Europe, as well as for the United States. Turkey's accession also touches on what it means to be European, as its membership would bring the borders of Europe to Iraq, Syria, and Iran.

As details of the historic deal were being hammered out Thursday, the two Turkeys were starkly evident in two coffee shops in this sprawling city - one in an elite enclave and another in a pocket of poverty.

At the Brasserie, in Istanbul's most wealthy and fashionable Nisantasi district, businessmen and ladies who lunch were abuzz over the long-awaited step by the EU.

Assistant manager Ayesegul Perskoy, 24, like the majority in the café and three-quarters of the country, according to recent polls, supports the quest for membership and applauds the government's actions in recent years to improve women's rights and curtail human rights abuses. But she also holds no illusions about a long and arduous process of change that will be necessary to join the EU, which could take as long as 10 or 15 years.

''We live like European people here, but there are huge parts of this country that are not ready and that have nothing to do with Europe,'' she said, as the rich smell of Turkish coffee wafted through the room. ''We have a long way to go, and if we get there, EU membership won't solve all our problems.''

The other coffee shop, 20 miles to the east on the city's industrial outskirts, has no name because it was built in an illegal dwelling off the side of a highway. The rickety structure was thrown up in the dead of night, like most of the housing and small shops where Turkey's minority ethnic Kurds scratch out an existence in what are known as ''gecekondu,'' or night dwellings.

Hassan Uzoglu, 42, the owner, said he arrived in this area of open sewers, pot-holed roads, and hovels of cinder block and corrugated tin in the late 1980s when his village in southeast Turkey was destroyed during the civil war between the government and a Kurdish separatist insurgency. Human rights organizations estimate that 3 million Kurds were displaced during the 20 years of fighting, and most now live in these urban shantytowns.

''I've never been in Europe, I've only seen it on TV,'' Uzoglu said as he sat at a broken card table and served sugary coffee in tiny cups. ''But it seems like there is real equality there and real justice.

''We are not ready for the EU - look around you, look at what you see. This is not Europe, this is the Third World, this is injustice,'' he said.

During the 1970s and 1980s, many Kurds of his generation flocked to Germany and elsewhere in Europe as guest workers or illegal immigrants. Although immigration laws are much stricter now, Uzoglu said, ''Believe me, if we get EU membership and someone tells us you are free to go work in Europe, this area will be empty of young people the next day.''

Economic worries

That is precisely the fear of many European leaders, especially conservatives who favor even tougher immigration laws and oppose Turkey's EU bid. These opponents believe that Turkey, with its surging population and per capita income of only $2,800 - which hovers below even the poorest Eastern European countries admitted to the EU, such as Poland - will weaken the future prospects of the bloc as a mighty economic force to challenge the United States in the global economy.

Other opponents go further, maintaining that Turkey, which is 99 percent Muslim, is neither geographically nor culturally part of Europe.
But the United States sees Turkey's EU bid as an opportunity. For 40 years, Washington has encouraged the country to become more integrated with Europe, and firmly backed its joining NATO in 1952. Now in the post-9/11 world, US diplomats believe the economic and strategic stability that EU membership would bring to Turkey would serve as a model of success for the rest of the Muslim world.

Some countries proposed partial membership or a special partnership for Turkey, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said bluntly that Turkey would never accept such a scenario.

Timothy Garton Ash, director of European studies at Oxford University, said that extending Turkey a conditional status would send the wrong signal.

''If [the West] reneges now on 40 years of promises to Turkey, the whole of the moderate Muslim world will say Europe is a Christian club. And that would be a disastrous message for the West to send to the whole of the Islamic world. That's why I think we have to say yes.''

Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Britain, all of whom have been struggling to integrate sizable Muslim minorities, stand to benefit from Turkey's accession because it would signal to those disenfranchised groups that Europe is become more open.

But still there is stiff resistance to Turkey's integration into the EU among the political right wing in France, Austria, and the Netherlands, who fear mass immigration will overwhelm their countries. To address such concerns, limitations on the number of workers allowed to migrate from Turkey will be included in the future EU discussions.

A balancing act

Since its founding 80 years ago, modern Turkey has officially been a secular state. A powerful military has dominated the political landscape for decades. Women are not permitted to wear the Muslim headscarf in schools or state offices, and Muslim clerics are appointed by the government.

But religion and tribal traditions play a powerful role in the rural ast and southeast. And Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party has its roots in an Islamic movement and has tapped into this base.

As part of Turkey's balancing act between the two forces - one modern and secular and the other tribal and religious - Erdogan's government has made strides in reforming its constitution and changing outdated laws through a comprehensive penal code approved Sept. 26. In these new laws, Turkey seeks to abolish torture, establish more rights for women and minority Kurds, and mete out stricter punishment for so-called honor killings of women.

Women's rights groups, Kurdish leaders, businessmen, intellectuals, and commentators say that Turkey stands to transform itself, although they maintain it still has a long way to go.

Umit Firat, editor of a Kurdish magazine called Serbesti, which means ''freedom'' in Kurdish, was one of the authors of an open letter to the EU, which was signed by 200 Kurdish political leaders and intellectuals and published in European newspapers. It called for restorative justice for decades of human rights abuses of Kurds at the hands of the Turkish state.

The letter caused a furor at home. Several of Erdogan's government ministers and a chorus of staunch nationalists saying it revealed a hidden Kurdish agenda to use the EU debate to assert a goal of a separate Kurdish state.

''Yes, there is change,'' Firat said. ''But the reaction of the government to our letter shows there is no change of heart about the Kurdish question. ..... It's easy to change a few laws, but to change minds will not be so easy.''

In her office, crusading women's rights lawyer Hulya Gulbahar was busy going over case files and recent newspaper clippings of ''honor killings,'' incidents in which the men of an extended family kill a woman relative who is seen to have dishonored the clan. Gulbahar estimates there is one such killing a day in Turkey, although no exact statistics are kept.

The new, tougher laws go after the entire family in such cases and mandate tough sentencing in courts that have been traditionally lenient, but there are still loopholes. Divorce laws still discriminate against women, she says, and EU accession will keep up the pressure for reform.

''It's easy to change laws; the key comes in the way the law is practiced,'' she said. ''There is still much work to be done.''

Ishak Alaton, a businessman and chairman of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, a Turkish think tank, said the journey down the road to accession is more important for the country than the actual membership. ''It is about becoming a true democracy, which right now we cannot claim to be,'' he said.

8. - Bianet - "Turkey: Europe Could Be a Decade Away":

Turkey would become the largest EU member, because its population is expected to surpass that of Germany by 2020.

BRUSSELS / 17 December 2004 / by Stefania Bianchi

The European Union's offer to start talks with Turkey next year will have far-reaching implications both inside and outside the bloc.

European Union (EU) leaders offered Thursday (Dec.. 16) to begin membership talks with Turkey October next year, but warned that it could take another decade before Turkey would be ready for full membership, because the challenge of integrating the poor and predominantly Muslim country into the EU could prove formidable.

EU leaders warned Turkey before the start of their summit in Brussels that it would have to accept stringent conditions before it could become a full member.

As discussions on the final offer continued Friday (Dec. 17), measures proposed reportedly included recognition of existing EU member Cyprus, where Turkey still controls the northern part of the island.

Early reports Friday showed that Turkey was "disappointed" by the conditions set by EU. But should Turkey accept the EU offer, the entry of the strategically placed country to the bloc would change the face of EU for ever.

Turkey would become the largest EU member, because its population is expected to surpass that of Germany by 2020.

That would not only give Turkey considerable power because voting within the EU is weighted by population, but there are also concerns over the impact that the entry of 71 million Turks will have on the EU labour market.

Critics also fear that opening the door to a predominantly Muslim country would profoundly alter the bloc's European and Christian character at a time when many Europeans are questioning multiculturalism.

That unease is based in part on the feeling that many Muslims reject European values of secularism and equality for women.

EU leaders appeared relaxed at the summit, but they are fully aware of the risks attached to Turkey's accession.. "This is a decision with immense implications," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Thursday.

Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain, backed by the United States all favour further eastward enlargement of the EU, and see Turkey as a strategic partner.

They highlight Turkey's strategic importance close to political hotspots in the Middle East. Turkey's membership would push EU territory to the borders of Iraq, Iran and Syria.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said last month that Turkey could serve as a bridge between Europe and the Muslim world, and contribute to international peace.

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) party, the European Parliament's third largest, supports this notion.

"This is a huge opportunity to break down the barriers between Islam and Christendom West and demonstrate that the EU is not about creating a superstate but rather a community of values, open to all Europeans who would embrace them," ALDE leader Graham Watson said Friday.

Some analysts say that although Turkey's membership may not necessarily "improve" the bloc's relations with the Middle East, it will set an example for neighbouring Middle Eastern countries.

"It will show other countries in the Middle East how Turkey has prospered from democracy and membership of the EU," Daniel Gros, director of the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies told IPS.

Gros acknowledges the "delicate political issues" involved in Turkish membership, but he says the benefits are greater. "Turkey's entry into the EU can have a great influence on Middle Eastern countries where such democracy doesn't exist."

But Turkish accession remains deeply unpopular in some member states such as Austria, Denmark, Cyprus and France where many find Turkey too big, too different and too poor to join the bloc. They fear that further eastward expansion of the EU will mark the end of a cherished dream -- to make Europe a united superpower that could counter the dominance of the United States.

France plans a referendum to ask its citizens if they support Turkish membership. It would take only one member state to veto Turkey's application.

Warnings about Turkey's admission to the bloc also come from overseas. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said on the Italian television station RAI Thursday that it would be dangerous for the EU to admit Turkey as a member state.

"As far as the Islamic world is concerned -- including the Islamic extremists, even bin Laden -- they're rejoicing over the entry of Turkey in the European Union. This is their Trojan horse. I'm saying only what will happen with the entry of the horse into Troy."