8 November 2006

1. "Translators Stand Trial in Turkey", government's war on freedom of expression extends beyond writers

2. "The EU-Turkey romance is on the rocks", after early promise, the Muslim nation's membership bid appears headed for limbo. Both sides' ardor has cooled.

3. "EU to criticise Turkish progress", the European Commission is to issue a critical verdict on Turkey's progress towards EU membership, while trying to avoid a breakdown in relations.

4. "KNK: Open Letter to EU Enlargement Commission", a year has gone by and Turkey has not yet taken the necessary steps towards democratisation, despite the great tolerance granted to her. Unfortunately, even though we are still at the beginning of the negotiations, there are calls to stop the process with Turkey.

5. "Turkish army keeps eye on politicians", The tanks are rumbling through the streets of Istanbul and the crowds are cheering. Not images from one of the four military coups of the last 50 years, but celebrations for the birthday of the Turkish republic.

6. "EU to chide Turkey but not raise new hurdles", the European Commission will unveil the worst-kept secret in Brussels on Wednesday when it issues a widely leaked progress report on Turkey's EU candidacy set to criticise Ankara without raising new hurdles.

1. - Ohmy News - "Translators Stand Trial in Turkey":

Government's war on freedom of expression extends beyond writers

8 November 2006 / by Ozge Baykan

Turkish translators and publishers facing charges for insulting the state have called for international solidarity for freedom of expression.

The Professional Association of Turkish Book Translators (CEVBIR) has launched a campaign to stop publishers and translators from being tried under the articles of the penal code on insulting the Turkish state and Turkishness.

Currently, three translators, two editors and one publisher face charges for the publication of two books.

In its declaration, the translators association states that "the translator does not express an opinion of his/her own, s/he has to abide by what is written by the author," and thus "cannot be held responsible for the content of the text s/he has translated."

"We move from the maxim that a book, regardless of its content, should not be tried unless it contains an explicit and direct call for violence and war. In our association, we do not defend translators on the basis of our ideologies. Our members share diverse worldviews. But our concern is to ensure that translators practice their profession without any fear of becoming their own censurers or prosecutors," said Tuncay Birkan, the association's president.

Legal Basis for the Indictments

The association explains that the Turkish law regarding intellectual and artistic property views literary translators as the owners of a "derivative work." In cases where the owner of the original work does not reside in Turkey or is outside Turkish jurisdiction, the translator becomes subject to prosecution as "the owner of the work." This is made possible under the articles of the penal code on "crimes committed through publications" (i.e., "to humiliate the state, to insult the military forces, to deliver separatist propaganda, etc.") and the press law.

Criticizing this interpretation of a translator as the owner of the work, members of the association think that following this reasoning, "anyone could be brought before the court, from cover designers to those printing them in printing houses, and even readers."

Current Cases

Translators Lutfi Taylan Tosun and Aysel Yildirim, along with the owner of Aram Publications, are currently standing trial for the Turkish translation of John Tirman's "Spoils of War: the Human Cost of America's Arms Trade," which was published in 2005. They were charged under several articles of the penal code, including Article 301 on the denigration of Turkishness, the republic and the foundation and institutions of the state, as well as articles concerning the protection of the memory of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic.

If found guilty, the translators and the publisher face up to seven and a half years in jail.

Translator Ender Abadoglu and the owner and two editors of Aram Publications are also standing trial under Article 301, and under Article 216, for the translation of "Manufacturing Consent: the Political Economy of the Mass Media" by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, published by Aram Publications in March.

The book is purported to accuse Turkey of genocide against its own population, having incited people living in the southeast to hatred and hostility.

Abadoglu, the publisher and the editors all face up to six years in prison.

Previously, an investigation was carried out regarding Elif Shafak's "The Bastard of Istanbul." Charges were filed against the author, translator Asli Bicen and publisher Semih Sokmen for comments characters in the book made about the mass killings of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. Later, the charges against Bicen and Sokmen were dropped because the author resides in Turkey.

Bicen said, "A translator under threat of being tried has either to self-censure when translating a book or give up translating it totally." Bicen asked readers: "Do you want to give up reading translated texts? Not having read Dostoyevsky, Edward Said or Chomsky even once?"

Many translators share this view, stating that during their careers they translate numerous texts from authors with whom they do not agree. The association emphasizes this point: "We do not have to agree with the statements about 'genocide,' Ataturk's nationalism, etc. in the books, but it is our duty to protest strongly when the authors, publishers and especially the translators of these books start to be tried in the courts."

Article 301 and 216

Translators and publishers have been tried under Article 301 of the penal code like many other writers, including Orhan Pamuk, the winner of this year's Nobel literature prize, who claimed that "one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in Turkey."

Journalist Perihan Magden also faced prosecution due to a newspaper column she published in December 2005 in which she defended the principle of conscientious objection and the refusal to perform military service.

Both authors were acquitted.

Article 301 has been criticized due to its vagueness, which can be interpreted in ways that could criminalize a wide range of critical opinions. Paragraph four of the article states that "expressions of thought intended to criticize shall not constitute a crime." However, the attempt to draw a distinction between criticism and denigration is considered problematic. Many are concerned that the ambiguity would lead to arbitrary interpretation of the article by prosecutors and judges.

This article is not the only one in question. Articles 1 and 2 of the law numbered 5816 prohibit publicly insulting the memory of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, prescribing one to three years imprisonment.

Article 216 of the Turkish penal code prohibits the incitement to hatred and enmity of one group of the population against another group of a different social class, race, religion, sect or region. In the event of an open and immediate danger regarding public security, the law prescribes one to three years imprisonment.

Translator Tosun said, "In Western media, the problem was brought up through famous names such as Orhan Pamuk and Elif Shafak and Article 301. However, the restrictions on the freedom of expression in Turkey are not confined to Article 301. Writers, translators and publishers are relatively fortunate in terms of attracting media attention from the West. But there are many other politicians, NGO activists, women, and religious and ethnic minorities under pressure, who do not attract much media attention."

2. - Los Angeles Times - "The EU-Turkey romance is on the rocks":

7 November 2006

After early promise, the Muslim nation's membership bid appears headed for limbo. Both sides' ardor has cooled.

They're calling it a train crash here, the seemingly inevitable collision between this large Muslim nation and the Europe it has courted for years.

Those gauging Turkey's once promising program of reforms, aimed at modernizing its democracy and facilitating membership in the European Union, see a troubled landscape: Turkish writers, journalists and even a 93-year-old academic are hauled into court on charges they insulted their country. Military commanders known for staging coups make veiled threats.

Anti-Western nationalism is on the rise, conservative Islam is spreading, and public opinion in favor of joining the EU has plummeted to an all-time low.

At the same time, many in Europe have soured on the prospect of welcoming a poor, officially Muslim country of 70 million people to their 25-nation club.

On Wednesday, the EU will issue its annual progress report. It is expected to sharply criticize Turkey as failing to sufficiently improve human rights, freedom of speech, cultural rights for minority Kurds and civilian control over the military, according to portions that have been leaked to the media.

It now seems likely that Turkey's EU bid will be put on hold — not formally suspended, but frozen for possibly as long as a year.

The danger, diplomats say, is the difficulty in reviving a complex membership drive after such a long hiatus.

The consequences are potentially dire for Washington and the West, not to mention Ankara. A breakdown could further strain relations between the West and the Muslim world, ending for now Turkey's perceived role as bridge between the two civilizations. It was precisely that status that made a partnership with Turkey so appealing to Western nations.

"We will have turbulence here in Turkey, undoubtedly, but the EU will not go away unscathed," said Soli Ozel, a specialist in international relations at Istanbul's Bilgi University.

After an exhilarating start, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slowed the pace of reform, in part because of presidential and parliamentary elections next year. Aides say he is reluctant to further provoke secular nationalists, who are at once suspicious of his Islamist leanings and fearful that concessions his administration has made to the EU will erode Turkey's sovereignty.

The EU is most sharply critical of Article 301 of Turkey's penal code, a provision enacted last year and used by a group of ultranationalist lawyers to prosecute dozens of writers and academics deemed to have "denigrated" Turkish national identity or the state. Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk was among those targeted.

Erdogan on Sunday invited a group of activists to his office and said he would consider revisions to Article 301, which he acknowledged is vague. But diplomats and senior Turkish officials said Erdogan was in fact virtually crippled by his fear of losing political ground to nationalists who see the prosecutions as a way to protect Turkish pride and contain dissent.

"If this matter had been left up to this Islamist but reformist government, they never would have enacted Article 301 to begin with," said Baskin Oran, a political scientist on trial for a report he wrote on the plight of religious minorities in Turkey.

"But the government is very much afraid."

The nationalists, thousands of whom marched in the streets of Ankara over the weekend, also complain of Erdogan's tilt toward Islam.

He has advocated permitting women to wear head scarves in universities and government offices, a lightning-rod issue for many secular Turks; enhanced the status of Islamic schools; and placed Islamist colleagues in key civil service posts and within his inner circle of advisors. Some municipalities where his party holds office have attempted to ban the sale of alcohol.

But the prime minister also has vowed to defend Turkey's secular tradition, and his supporters say the Islam he promotes is moderate and democratic — precisely the version of the faith that many in Europe say they want to see more of.

Those who suspect that Erdogan has a hidden agenda, however, are worried that he will seek the presidency in May, when President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a fervent secularist, retires. In the likely case that Erdogan's party then retains control of parliament in elections next November, analysts say, Islamists would wield the major levers of political power and find it easier to push through laws favorable to their goals of spreading Islam in society.

At last month's gala Republic Day reception at the presidential palace, celebrating the 83rd anniversary of the founding of the Turkish state, those in attendance sipped cocktails, tasted hors d'oeuvres and pondered this very question.

"Will we be here next year?" Turkish Daily News Editor Yusuf Kanli recalled of the conversations in a column last week. "How many ladies will be here next year with their heads covered? Do you think alcohol will be served next year as well, or will guests be offered lemonade and ayran?" Kanli wrote, referring to a drink made with yogurt.

The EU, in its forthcoming report, also is expected to rebuke Turkey on the issue of Cyprus, another potential deal breaker. Ankara is required to open its seaports and airports to Cyprus, an EU member, but it has refused until the EU makes good on promises to ease restrictions on the Cypriot Turks who live on one side of the divided island.

Officials close to Erdogan acknowledge that Turkey has a way to go in meeting EU standards for admission, but they say the country has already taken important, often painful steps.

"Turkey is undergoing a sea-change transformation," said Namik Tan, Foreign Ministry spokesman and Turkey's next ambassador to Israel. "In every field — democracy, human rights, economy — Turkey has covered enormous ground. All taboos are torn away, finished…. But it's not enough. It hasn't trickled down to every sector of society with the same weight."

Some Turks believe much of Europe has decided it doesn't want Turkey but has not yet had the courage to say so.

What is clear among Turks is the nose dive in public support in Turkey for the European Union. A year ago, polls showed three-quarters of respondents favored joining the EU; today it's less than half.

"We've already wasted too much time," said Mehmet Komurcu, a 30-year-old grocer in Istanbul's historic Galata district. "They are trying to humiliate Turkey. We are the continuation of a great empire that ruled for 600 years. And they treat us like schoolchildren."

3. - BBC - "EU to criticise Turkish progress":

7 November 2006

The European Commission is to issue a critical verdict on Turkey's progress towards EU membership, while trying to avoid a breakdown in relations.

The report says the pace of reforms in Turkey has slowed, and calls for urgent steps to ensure freedom of speech.

But it stops short of recommending any slowing or freezing of membership negotiations with Turkey.

The Commission also says it will step up scrutiny of all candidate countries' political reforms in future.

There will be a "closer link" between these reforms and the pace of entry talks, it says in its annual review of progress made by states queuing up to join the bloc.

Cyprus obstacle

The final wording on the most serious obstacle on Turkey's path to membership - its failure to open ports to Cypriot shipping - will only be decided on Wednesday.

But the draft text does say Turkey has made no progress towards normalisation of relations with Cyprus, which joined the EU in May 2004.

An EU summit in December is expected to discuss a possible suspension of membership talks if there is no progress by then, but the Commission is keen to avoid jeopardising Finnish-led negotiations on the Cyprus issue now.

The report includes a long list of other problems Turkey has to address.

It says Ankara must ensure freedom of expression "without delay" by repealing or amending article 301 of the penal code, which has led to the prosecution of numerous writers for "insulting Turkishness".

It also raises serious concerns about allegations of torture, freedom of religion, women's and trade union rights, civilian control over the military, and the rights and freedoms of the Kurdish population.

Further enlargement

The European Commission says the 2004 enlargement of the EU, which took membership from 15 to 25 states, has been a "considerable success" increasing prosperity across the bloc.

However, it says there will not be another "big bang" expansion, when several countries join at once.

Bulgaria and Romania are due to join in January 2007, but the Commission says "a new institutional settlement" streamlining the way the EU operates should have been reached before any further members can join.

Officials emphasise that reaching an institutional settlement does not necessarily mean passing the constitution, which was voted down by voters in French and Dutch referendums last year.

They also insist that Croatia could still join the EU by the end of the decade.

Another Commission report to be issued on Wednesday on the EU's capacity to absorb new members, avoids setting geographical limits to the EU.

Correspondents say it gives some hope to would-be members such as Ukraine or Moldova - but stresses that keeping its promises to existing candidates in the Balkans and Turkey is a higher priority.

4. - Flash Bulletin - "KNK: Open Letter to EU Enlargement Commission":

BRUSSELS / 6 November 2006

A year has gone by and Turkey has not yet taken the necessary steps towards democratisation, despite the great tolerance granted to her. Unfortunately, even though we are still at the beginning of the negotiations, there are calls to stop the process with Turkey.

This is not a surprise. Although at the beginning of the negotiating process the Turkish Government was keen to demonstrate its commitments, it has since been unable to carry through to implementation the reform of its civil society and democratic practices. This is the main problem. The government is afraid of the reaction of the military and nationalist circles to the moves towards democratisation. The political leaders have not managed to prepare and present any serious proposals to resolve the Kurdish problem, which is the root of all social and political problems within the country, opting to leave this to be dealt with by the military.

On the other hand, the lack of any clear statements about the Kurdish problem within the EU Commission’s documents which reflects the attempts to accommodate all the sensitivities of Turkey has strengthened the confidence of those forces who are trying to preserve the status quo. We are of the opinion that if the Kurdish problem is resolved the democratisation of Turkey will be realised. For this reason, if there are clear statements about the Kurdish problem in the progress report Turkey would be encouraged to overcome its fears and it will allow it to approach the situation in a more realistic way. This will enable Turkish Government to show a strong will to resolve the Kurdish problem.

Turkey’s oppression of the Kurds is not only creating social and political crises within the country, but it is also having an impact in the whole region. In order to stop the violence and to create an opportunity for democratic conditions, the Kurdish side declared a unilateral ceasefire on 1st October. The ceasefire aims to initiate a dialogue, and to lead to a peaceful environment essential for those who are working for peace.

We would like to point out, however, that despite the Kurdish Freedom Movement having in the past declared four ceasefires, the EU has not only failed to acknowledge them but it has even proscribed the movement. These actions have had a seriously negative effect on the opinions of the Kurdish people who have lost faith in the EU and believe that it is hostile to them. The Kurdish people overwhelmingly supported the application of Turkey to join EU and had high expectations that Turkey would be able to resolve the Kurdish problem and successfully complete her democratisation.

The declaration of the ceasefire was almost universally welcomed. But, as you will be aware, the Turkish General Staff stated have refused to recognise it, preferring to step up military operations until not one guerrilla remains alive. They have carried out 43 military operations and as a result 12 guerrillas lost their lives. If these actions continue much longer the ceasefire will be seriously put at risk.

We believe that for the ceasefire to continue and to preserve the peace that was offered by it needs the support of all democratic and peace-loving forces, including the EU. Your institution has a great responsibility towards achieving a peaceful solution now that the ceasefire has created an opportunity to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem.

The European Commission and the European Parliament expressed support for the ceasefire and we believe that the EU should now take steps to encourage a bilateral ceasefire that will remove all arms from the area and help to find a democratic and permanent political solution. The EU must act courageously to fulfil its historical role.

The Kurdish problem is not just a problem of Turkey but also a problem of the whole Middle East. If Turkey manages to resolve its problem by democratic means, it could be transformed into a constructive strategic partner in the region and in the entire Muslim world.

Therefore we believe that the European Commission’s approach to the problem and especially if these issues are clearly addressed in the pages of Progress Report, to be released on the 8th November, it will act as a very positive signal and provide effective leverage for democratisation and great progress inside Turkey.

5. - BBC - "Turkish army keeps eye on politicians":

ISTANBUL / 7 November 2006 / by Mark Mardell

The tanks are rumbling through the streets of Istanbul and the crowds are cheering.

Not images from one of the four military coups of the last 50 years, but celebrations for the birthday of the Turkish republic.

Row upon row of sometimes rather baby-faced young men in smart blue uniforms march past, carrying trumpets and drums adorned with the Turkish flag.

Their white helmets and matching spats gleam. Behind them comes a troop of rather harder looking men shouldering assault rifles.

Then the serious stuff. Angular amphibious landing vehicles trundle by. Helicopter gunships whirr out of the sky.

The powerful chug of lines of tanks is drowned out by the scream of fighter bombers overhead.

Above stirring martial music the announcer yells out: "The sun is yours, the earth is yours, the sky is yours, let victory be your most sacred desire!"

'Political force'

It is a reminder that this is one of the largest armies in the world, more than a million people under its command, in Nato second only in size to the world's only superpower.

But it is also a reminder that Turkey's army is not only a potential force on the battlefield - it is a real force in day-to-day politics.

Few adult Turks can see this sight without recalling that the last coup was just nine years ago and was preceded by the coups of 1980, 1971 and 1960.

Senior diplomats say that Turkey has moved beyond coups and the army would only intervene like that if there was a total economic and political meltdown.

But no-one thinks the army is about to give up its political role either.

If the army thinks the politicians are giving in to the rise of political Islam, Kurdish separatists or are betraying northern Cyprus, then the politicians will know about it.

EU concerns

It is true that Turkey's armed forces have swallowed hard in recent years and accepted a reduction in their power - mainly to please the European Union, which on the whole they think is a good, if extremely irritating and naive, thing.

Since 2001, Turkey's national security council has had more elected civilians on its board and the cabinet merely has to "evaluate" that body's decisions, rather than "take them into consideration".

It meets less frequently and the civilian government can now audit military accounts.

This summer laws were revised so that military courts can no longer try civilians.

But these look like mere technical details compared to the EU list of complaints.

In the report being published on 8 November 2006, the European Commission notes that the armed forces exercise "significant political influence", the military has in law "a wide margin of manoeuvre" within "a broad definition of national security".

It concludes that the military should stick to speaking about defence matters and even these statements should only be made under the authority of the government.

General's warning

This is very far from what actually happens.

When the EU condemns the Turkish top brass for making "public statements to influence areas beyond their responsibilities" it could well cite last month's speech by the chief of staff, Gen Yasar Buyukanit.

He said the Turkish republic and its values were "under heavy attack" from "people in the highest positions of government" because they wanted to redefine secularism.

Make no mistake, he does mean the present government. It was elected by a massive majority and is the first party for years that has been able to rule without needing to form a coalition.

It is up for election again next year and expected to win again. It could take the presidency as well.

It was elected promising to bring the headscarf ban to an end, something the majority of the population want.

But it has not been able to do it. From the women affected to fundamentalist agitators, no-one I talk to seems the tiniest bit surprised or even disappointed. They know the army has drawn a red line.

'Army is constitution'

Nearly two weeks after the National Day parade, I am watching a debate in the studios of Crescent TV, an Islamic channel on what is probably the hottest, longest-running topic in Turkey today - the relationship between religion and the state.

Four earnest men around a desk listen as a taped report sets the terms of the debate.

The reporter begins: "It's 83 years since the birth of the Turkish republic and yet we are still governed by a constitution written by soldiers..."

But this perhaps misses the point. In Turkey, the army thinks it is the constitution.

At least, it takes upon it the function of the constitution in many countries, seeing itself as the highest arbiter of the state, making sure that mere democratically elected governments do not stray from the straight and narrow.

Its sacred driving principle is that the sacred should never become a driving principle of the state.

It sees itself as a bulwark against political Islam and what it would regard as surrender to terrorism.

'Post-modern coup'

A retired four-star general, Edib Baser, who now runs the Institute for the Study of Ataturk's Principles and the History of the Republic, sees the state as a building.

"If this building falls down everything... including democracy, freedom of speech, human rights... gets crushed underneath. So the roof has to be strong. The army keeps an eye on it."

It is instructive to look at the1997 coup, which has been called the first "post-modern coup". That is a trendy way of saying the army made clear its displeasure, and events followed without the need for much brute force.

Neither the generals nor their puppets took over but the government resigned and there was a clampdown on political Islam.

Power without responsibility, perhaps, but it is probably more accurate to say the Turkish army feels it has a responsibility but does not actually seek direct power.

All armies, perhaps, have a reverential sense of their own history, but this is especially true in Turkey.

'Hampstead Liberals'

They were the driving force behind the revolution that modernised and westernised the country.

In the young Turkish republic, Kemal Ataturk, an army officer all his life until he became a revolutionary leader, used the army to build the schools and canals and mosques for grateful villagers.

But his conscript army also educated its soldiers, making sure they could read and write before they left its service.

A consequence of this is a rather strange anomaly.

In Turkey, there are liberals in a modern Western sense. But many of those who you would expect to be "Hampstead Liberals" in Britain are here among the strongest supporters of the army.

The controversial artist Bedri Baykam tells me: "This government unfortunately is trying to change every law little by little. It's as though we were trying to enter the Iranian Union, not the EU.

"Turkey is the only Muslim country that has democracy, freedom of speech and an international lifestyle and that is not a coincidence. It's because of Ataturk's ideas and the Turkish army's care and attention."

He has just been on a march in favour of secularism and against the possibility of the headscarf ban being lifted, and adds: "We do not want any military coup d'etat, because that would take us 20 or 30 years backwards. But we also don't want an Islamic coup, because that would take us 1,000 back. Between 30 and 1,000, I would prefer 30."

'Perpetual fear'

Some think that as Turkey changes and becomes more secure as a secular democracy, then the army will become more relaxed about Islamic symbols in the public sphere and slowly relinquish its role.

The army itself sometimes says that is its aim and desire. But it will not be easy.

Professor Hailil Berktay, a historian and expert on the way Turkey sees its own history, tells me: "The army had a semi-colonial mission to the rest of society. And they've never ceased enthusiastically believing that they are the real civilising elite in Turkey."

"They say, 'We are the ones keeping Pandora's box closed and preventing the demons of backwardness, superstition, religious fundamentalism, Kurdish separatism and Armenian nationalism from emerging.' It's this sense of a civilising and protecting mission that drives them."

He adds: "The larger problem is the way the rest of Turkish society has internalised this and lives in perpetual fear of what the military might do."

The real test may come next year, when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may decide to run for president.

If he does and wins, the thought of a man whose wife wears a headscarf living in the presidential palace, a man who was once imprisoned for words thought to represent militant Islam, occupying the role that Ataturk first held, may be too much for some officers to bear.

Then again, if these things come to pass and the sky does not fall in, they may start to relax a little and keep the moaning for the army mess table.

6. - Reuters - "EU to chide Turkey but not raise new hurdles":

BRUSSELS / 7 November 2006 / by Paul Taylor

The European Commission will unveil the worst-kept secret in Brussels on Wednesday when it issues a widely leaked progress report on Turkey's EU candidacy set to criticise Ankara without raising new hurdles.

The European Union executive will publish annual reports on eight candidate or aspirant countries and seek to rebuild political support for an enlargement policy which it argues has been a huge success but which now faces deep public scepticism.

Many of those doubts centre on Turkey, the most populous and most different country ever to apply to join the 25-nation bloc.

In a carefully balanced report, a draft of which was seen by Reuters, the Commission says Turkey has made progress in reforms since starting entry talks last year but the pace has slowed.

"In 2007, it will be important to undertake determined efforts to broaden the reform momentum throughout Turkey," the draft said.

The Commission will demand the repeal or amendment "without delay" of an article of the penal code used to prosecute writers and intellectuals for expressing non-violent political opinions.

It will also seek greater efforts to strengthen religious freedom, the rights of women, minorities and trade unions, and civilian control over the military. And it will urge Ankara to address human rights and social and economic problems in largely Kurdish southeastern Turkey.

The report will note Turkey has made no progress towards meeting an obligation to open its ports to shipping from Cyprus.

The wording will depend on a last-minute debate among the 25 commissioners, four of whom want tougher language, EU sources said.

CAUTION

Enlargement Commissioenr Olli Rehn is keen to give Ankara a chance to accept a deal on Cyprus that the Finnish EU presidency is trying to craft before a summit in mid-December decides how the issue should affect Turkey's negotiations.

Financial markets are unlikely to react strongly to the widely discounted Commission report.

Emerging markets analyst David Lubin of Citicorp in London said markets were expecting criticism of Turkey and were postponing judgement for another month.

"The market seems to want to like Turkey at the moment until it is given a reason not to," he said.

The Commission will press Croatia, the other candidate already in negotiations, to fight corruption harder, reform its judiciary and administration and speed economic reforms.

It will seek to assuage public "anxieties and misapprehensions" about enlargement by saying there is no prospect of another simultaneous wave of expansion like the 2004 "big bang" when 10 mostly ex-communist countries joined.

"Further accessions are likely to occur in the medium to long term, given the present state of pre-accession preparations," the draft said, pledging caution on making any new commitments.

But the EU executive will resist pressure, notably from France, to set final borders for the bloc, arguing that "the European Union is defined first and foremost by its values".