6 September 2004

1. "Human rights violations rise, Mazlum-Der", despite these efforts, the EU awaits Turkey to implement the reform packages to see whether it is sincere in its efforts to improve its human rights record.

2. "Turkish plans to criminalize adultery should not overshadow EU reforms", Turkey's plans to recriminalize adultery should not overshadow other reforms the government has undertaken in hopes of joining the EU, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Saturday.

3. "Turks argue: 'The state is entering our bedroom'", ruling Party likely to criminalize adultery.

4. "Verheugen Says EU Decision on Turkey Will Be `Firm'", European Union Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said the European Commission will make a ``clear and firm'' recommendation concerning whether the EU should start membership talks with Turkey next year.

5. "KONGRA-GEL: Verheugen should not be indifferent toward action of Kurdish youth", criticizising AK Party's recent attitude as being far from peace and fraternity, Political Committee of Congress of the Peoples of Kurdistan (KONGRA-GEL) stated, "The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) gave rise to violence. For this reason, European Union (EU)'s attitude towards solutions of Kurdish Question will be shaped with the visit of Verheugen to Diyarbakir. Verheugen should not be indifferent towards Kurdish youth's democratic and peaceful activities".

6. "Turkey inflation edges back to double digits", Turkey's annual inflation edged back into double figures in August but monthly price rises came in close to analysts' expectations, figures from the State Statistics Institute showed on Friday.

1. - Turkish Daily News - "Human rights violations rise, Mazlum-Der":

Despite these efforts, the EU awaits Turkey to implement the reform packages to see whether it is sincere in its efforts to improve its human rights record

ANKARA / 6 September 2004

According to a human rights report issued by the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER) during July and August of 2004, 145 people died as a result of unsolved murders, assassinations, torture, combat and actions against civilians.

Charges filed due to violations of freedom of expression and the right to organize, students facing disciplinary charges and dismissals from employment were still significant, said Mazlum-Der Chairman Ayhan Bilgen at a press conference over the weekend.

Bilgen noted the majority of violations against the right to life were due to bomb and landmine explosions. He also said that violations against those who want to enter the country illegally were another vast source of human rights abuses during the summer.

Bilgen said the European Court of Human Rights had fined Turkey 482,500 euros in July and August of this year, adding that significant obstructions blocking the implementation of new laws had occurred. He also said Turkey had still failed to pass a comprehensive constitutional amendment package in accordance with universal norms.

The report said 19 people had claimed to have been tortured or maltreated whilst in custody.

Turkey, having ambitions to become part of the European Union, pledged to improve its bad human rights record and passed a series of amendments in an effort to eliminate human rights abuses.

Despite these efforts, the EU awaits Turkey to implement the reform packages to see whether it is sincere in its efforts to improve its human rights record.

2. - AFP - "Turkish plans to criminalize adultery should not overshadow EU reforms":

VALKENBURG / 4 September 2004

Turkey's plans to recriminalize adultery should not overshadow other reforms the government has undertaken in hopes of joining the EU, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Saturday.

"This is a proposal for a reform among others ... we must not let this proposal cast a show over all the reforms that have already been made and those still to be carried out," Gul told reporters.

"Every country has its own laws which preserve its values," Gul said on the sidelines of an informal gathering of European Union foreign ministers in the Netherlands.

Gul's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which was founded on Islamic values, said Tuesday it would send a bill to parliament later this month to outlaw adultery, eight years after it was struck from the penal code.

Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, a leading member of the AKP, recently said there were "social reasons" to make adultery a crime and that Turkish society supported the proposal.

Turkey has overhauled its criminal justice system as part of major reforms to bring it into line with European Union norms, hoping the country with an overwhelmingly Muslim population but a secular state will later this year be invited to formally begin EU membership talks.

But the plans to make adultery punishable by jail could be a spanner in the works of Turkey's EU aspirations.

The opposition Republican People's Party has said it will not challenge the bill when parliament begins to debate it on September 14, provided that men are liable to the same penalties as women.

In 1996, the constitutional court threw out a law on the grounds that it enabled a wife to be jailed after committing adultery once, while an adulterous husband could be convicted only for repeated and conspicuous offences.

The previous law made adultery punishable by a prison term ranging from six months to three years.

3. - The Los Angeles Times - "Turks argue: 'The state is entering our bedroom'":

Ruling Party likely to criminalize adultery

ANKARA / 5 Aeptember 2004 / by Amberin Zaman

A proposal by Turkey's ruling party to revive a law criminalizing adultery has provoked a storm of protest from women's groups and fueled accusations that the government is seeking to steer this officially secular but predominantly Muslim country toward Islamic rule.

The opposition Republican People's Party has said it will try to quash the measure but has little chance of doing so in Parliament, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islam-rooted Justice and Development Party enjoys a firm majority. Women's groups have vowed to stage a protest in front of Parliament when it convenes Sept. 14.

The session will debate other proposed changes to the penal code that are meant to improve Turkey's democratic credentials to meet the standards of the European Union, which Ankara hopes to join.

Erdogan has won strong praise from EU leaders in recent months for reforms that include easing bans on the Kurdish language. But EU officials say Turkey must improve freedom of worship for religious minorities and expand the rights of women.

The proposal to criminalize adultery comes as EU's commissioner of enlargement, Guenter Verheugen, is set to visit next week to assess Turkey's readiness to begin membership negotiations. The EU is expected to release its assessment by Oct. 6, and a decision on whether to start the talks will be made in December.

"The state is entering our bedroom," read a banner headline Friday in the liberal-leaning daily newspaper Radikal.

Feminists fear the proposal will encourage so-called honor killings in which women are killed for allegedly besmirching family reputations by associating with unrelated men.

Adultery was illegal in Turkey until 1996, when the Constitutional Court overturned the law, saying it discriminated against women.

Under the proposed law, men and women would be prosecuted under equal terms and would face the same three-year prison term if convicted.

4. - Bloomberg - "Verheugen Says EU Decision on Turkey Will Be `Firm'":

6 September 2004

European Union Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said the European Commission will make a ``clear and firm'' recommendation concerning whether the EU should start membership talks with Turkey next year.

The commission on Oct. 6 will announce whether Turkey, the EU's only mostly Muslim candidate, has implemented the laws needed to start the negotiations. Turkey says it's met the EU's criteria governing democracy and the 25-nation bloc must award it an unconditional date to begin talks.

``We've agreed that there's now certainly sufficient critical mass on the table to allow us to make a final judgment,'' Verheugen told a news conference in Turkey's capital, Ankara. ``It'll be a clear and firm decision.''

The commission has called on the Turkish government to improve the rights of non-Muslims and Kurds and do more to prevent torture in prisons and police stations. Torture in Turkey is ``no longer systematic,'' Verheugen said.

``We won't hide the fact that there are difficulties in certain areas,'' he said.

``Implementation is not complete, but that's normal.''

Europe's leaders will consider Turkey's application at a summit on Dec. 17-18. Turkey, whose population of 70 million almost equals that of the 10 nations that joined the EU on May 1, deserves to start entry talks after shoring up its democratic system, a panel of senior European politicians said today.

Talks Likely

Turkey is likely to start EU entry talks next year on the strength of a ``positive'' assessment of its progress on human rights, Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said last week.

The government is counting on the start of negotiations to attract foreign investment and help lower borrowing costs on more than $200 billion in debt. Actual admission to the bloc could take 15 years, French President Jacques Chirac has said.

``Verheugen's comments were very positive, though the market hasn't realized that,'' said Hakan Avci, a strategist at Istanbul- based Raymond James Securities. ``Earlier he said a `critical mass' of reforms was needed for Turkey to satisfy the EU's criteria, now he's saying Turkey has achieved that.''

The National 100 Index of Turkey's biggest companies fell 0.36 percent as of midday in Istanbul, when the morning trading session ended. The index has risen for the past six days, partly on expectation the commission will recommend Turkey start talks.

Politicians including British Prime Minister Tony Blair say the EU must admit Turkey ``as soon as possible'' to embrace a country that's Muslim and democratic. Angela Merkel, the leader of Germany's opposition Christian Democrats, says Turkey isn't European enough in terms of its history and culture to join.

Verheugen today will travel to Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's mostly Kurdish southeast. He'll also visit Izmir and Istanbul, where he's expected to meet the leaders of non-Muslim religious groups, before leaving Turkey on Thursday, said a spokesman for the commission's office in Ankara.

5. - DIHA - "KONGRA-GEL: Verheugen should not be indifferent toward action of Kurdish youth":

ISTANBUL / 6 September 2004

Criticizising AK Party's recent attitude as being far from peace and fraternity, Political Committee of Congress of the Peoples of Kurdistan (KONGRA-GEL) stated, "The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) gave rise to violence. For this reason, European Union (EU)'s attitude towards solutions of Kurdish Question will be shaped with the visit of Verheugen to Diyarbakir. Verheugen should not be indifferent towards Kurdish youth's democratic and peaceful activities".

It was stated in the press statement revealed by Political Committee of KONGRA-GEL that AK Party government gave rise to violence for provocation. The committee stated, "Apart from this, AK Party government's attitude towards 'Human Shields Activity', which was organized by foresightedness and responsibility of Kurdish people, should be condemned."

Explaining that it was worrisome for the government to wait a date to start the negotiations on EU membership without paying enough attention to Turkey's essential problems as Kurdish Question and democratization, Political Committee of KONGRA-GEL pointed, "AK Party government has maintained destructive attitudes towards our people's attempt for peace. Turkish government violent attitudes increased, just like its recent operations against HPG guerillas"

'We call everyone to take a certain stand against violence of the government."

In the press statement, visit of Gunter Verheugen, European Union's commissioner responsible for EU enlargement, was also mentioned; "Before Verheugen's visit to Diyarbakir, the government's attitudes are far from peace and fraternity. On the contrary, they gave rise to violence. At that point, EU's attitudes towards resolutions of Kurdish Question will be shaped with the visit of Verheugen to Diyarbakir. Verheugen should not be indifferent towards Kurdish youth's democratic and peaciful activities. Will the visit reach a result? The answer of this question will be created by attitudes. To make a contribution to Turkey's democratization, we call everyone to take a stand against the violence of the AK Party government against the 'human shields' action. Demonstration like this should be seen as a support to improve democratic and pacific environment. We explained that we support such kind of activities for mentioned reason."

6. - Reuters - "Turkey inflation edges back to double digits":

ANKARA / 3 September 2004

Turkey's annual inflation edged back into double figures in August but monthly price rises came in close to analysts' expectations, figures from the State Statistics Institute showed on Friday.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.58 percent month-on-month in August and was up 10.04 percent from a year earlier.

The wholesale price index (WPI) rose 0.79 percent from a month earlier, ticking up again after July's 1.52 percent fall. Year on year, wholesale prices rose 10.52 percent.

Turkey is targeting year-end inflation of 12 percent for both consumer and wholesale prices under its $19 billion loan accord with the International Monetary Fund.

The country's policymakers have won plaudits for dragging Turkey's chronically high inflation down to around single digits.

The median forecast in a Reuters poll of 25 analysts saw the CPI rising 0.5 percent in August, reflecting high oil prices. WPI was forecast to rise 0.1 percent.