Turkey's EU membership application and its human rights record

Abstract

At the end of the Cold War, Europe's goals of democracy, supremacy of law, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, become more visible. To Turkey, the West is the principle benchmark by which her contemporary civilization is measured. Attempts to establish relations with the several European states can be traced back to the Ottoman Empire, and the introduction of Atatturk' s ideas to westernize Turkey, intensified these relations. Turkey's current situation requires some changes in its political establishment where there are several democratic loopholes. Recently, there have been some constitutional changes to improve Turkey's political establishment and therefore promote democracy. As a result, it increased its chances of gaining EU membership. The European Union (EU) is also urging Turkey to reduce the military influence in its political system. From an EU point of view, the military regime seems to be blocking Turkey's process of integration and is seriously limiting the role played by the government. Turkey applied for full membership in 1987 but the EU found it fruitless to open negotiations straight away since the applicant country had not reached the required level of democracy and respect for human rights. Turkey was finally considered as a candidate country in Helsinki in 1999 on condition that the country fulfills the Copenhagen Political Criteria. This required the achievement of democracy, rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities. To meet with the Copenhagen criteria, Turkey produced a list of steps, which included constitutional amendments. Despite these changes, fundamental rights are not generally respected. Torture is still widespread, prison conditions have not improved and freedom of expression remains a problem. Torture mainly occurs in the initial days of police or gendarmerie custody, when the detainees are prohibited from making contact with the outside world. The prison conditions of Turkey worry the EU and other human rights institutions. Of main concern are the new prisons in which the prisoner is kept in isolation for several days or months with no social or visual contact. Apart from the physical damage, this treatment has led the prisoners to violence and hunger strikes resulting in deaths. Freedom of expression is almost non-existent. Non-violent protests, politicians and journalists expressing their view have been frequently subject to violent arrests. Another EU concern are the Kurds in Turkey who are not considered as an ethnic minority according to the Turkish constitution. Kurds are prohibited to speak or learn the Kurdish language. These prohibitions eventually resulted into the creation of the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK) led by Ocalan. The PKK leader was arrested in 1999 from the Greek embassy in Nairobi. The Ocalan case emphasized the differences between Turkey and several European states. After the leader was sentenced to death under the Turkish court, his case is now pending before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Ocalan has accused Turkey of infringing several articles from the Convention for the Protection of Fundamental Human Rights.