ANKARA - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Saturday that they were determined to eliminate deficiencies in human rights regulations.
Speaking in the symposium on freedom of thought of expression, Gul said that they would make necessary constitutional amendments to reach human rights and democracy norms and all their efforts served that aim.
Noting that they would do what was necessary for pluralist democracy, Gul said, ''we will bring Turkey to desired level.''
Gul drew the attention that new elections would be held in the European Parliament the following year, adding that Turkey entered a critical period on the road to European Union (EU) membership and changes in regulations had to be completed within that year to start negotiations at the end of the coming year.
Touching on the Article 8 of the Anti-Terrorism Law, Gul said that the article covered acts which considered thought that did not provoke violence as a crime and therefore, it had to be changed.
Gul said that human rights were rights that people owned since birth which could not be transferred or given up.
Gul drew the attention that those rights gave legitimacy to social and political structure.
Emphasizing that a regime which did not respect to human rights rejected human value and the quality of person to be a human, Gul said, ''this is the direction of our government's policy. Therefore, this will be the main point of our acts.''
Gul noted that they were aware of the need to adjust the constitutional order with international norms and especially European human rights and democracy norms.
Stating that they continued their initiatives in that direction, Gul emphasized that they would do what was necessary to reach modern human rights norms.
In that context, Gul said, they tried to further improve communication with all non-governmental organizations.
Gul stated that they would do what was necessary for not only imaginative democracy but also pluralist democracy.
''We will altogether administer Turkey. We will continue our efforts in transparency and with participation of everybody when taking decisions,'' Gul said.
Gul recalled that the parliament adopted two United Nations (U.N) human rights conventions, civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights conventions the previous day and stressed the importance of that.
''Everything we want to do is the requirement of conventions that we have signed,'' Gul said.
Gul stated that it was not possible to say that full adjustment was ensured to modern norms regarding freedom of expression despite comprehensive constitutional and legal arrangements made in recent years.
Turkey was still a ''monitored'' country although it was one of the oldest members of the Council of Ministers, Gul drew the attention.
Gul stressed that Turkish society was a society which had achieved to co-exist with people of different religions and to respect to different opinions for centuries.
Noting that Turkey entered a critical period on the road to European Union (EU) membership, Gul said that the European Parliament would hold elections in the middle of the following week and the parliament would totally change.
Gul drew the attention that people who knew Turkey well would be replaced and new persons would join the European Parliament.
Therefore, changes in regulations should be completed within that year to start full membership negotiations at the end of the coming year, Gul stated.
Gul emphasized that it would not be sufficient to make changes in only the regulations and implementation was more important.
The year 2004 would be a year when new regulations and changes would be put into practice, Gul said.
Gul stated that the target of the government was to well-evaluate the following few years, to pass some laws and to show whole world that those laws were implemented well.
Replying to questions of reporters after the symposium if an amendment would be made in issues like place of worship in apartment buildings and propaganda in other languages in elections, Gul said, ''the second issue you have asked is not in the package. It was excluded from the package during the preparation phase. That is, the issue of making propaganda in other languages in the elections is not in the general package. As the Foreign Ministry and the Secretariat General for the EU, we brought a change to build place of worship. But, I think such issues which cause unnecessary discussions are not very important for the EU.''
Gul stated that what was important was to free thoughts that did not provoke violence and implement the EU criteria in Turkey.
Replying a question that ''EU issue was made a tool for internal policy'', Gul said, ''I don't understand what the link between the EU issue and internal politics is.''
Gul emphasized that the government and the opposition were making necessary changes altogether when EU membership was in question.
''Now, we, the government, opposition and non-governmental organizations should make necessary changes that Turkey has to do. This is a process. Packages are brought onto the agenda. Other packages will be in question in coming days,'' Gul added.
(BRC-AY) 07.06.2003