European Parliamentary Committee To Vote Report On Turkey

STRASBOURG - European Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs will vote Turkey`s 2007 Progress Report on Monday.
The report, which was prepared by the Dutch rapporteur Ria Oomen-Ruijten, will be put to final vote at general assembly of the parliament in May.
Parliamentarians proposed more than 250 amendments to the report before the voting at the committee. One of the amendments says "European Parliament is gravely concerned about the implications of a possible ban of the governing Justice & Development (AK) Party," and " it expects the Turkish Constitutional Court to act in accordance with the Venice Commission guidelines on the prohibition of political parties."
Amendments also call on the Turkish government to respect pluralism, secularism and democracy while carrying out reforms and to reach a compromise with political parties. One of the amendments also urges the political parties to distance themselves from violence and terrorist organizations.

-DRAFT REPORT-

The draft report says the parliament takes note of the process under way to prepare a new, civilian constitution; regards it as a key opportunity to place the protection of human rights and freedoms at the core of the constitution and underlines the need for a broad involvement of civil society in this process.
The report says the parliament "welcomes the commitment of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that 2008 is going to be the year of reforms; urges the Turkish government to make use of its strong parliamentary majority to resolutely pursue reforms that are crucial for Turkey`s transformation into a modern democratic and prosperous society.
It says "(the parliament) encourages the Turkish government to make further systematic efforts to ensure that the democratically elected political leadership bears full responsibility for formulation of domestic, foreign and security policy and that the armed forces respect this civilian responsibility; points out, in particular, the need to establish full parliamentary oversight of military and defence policy and all related expenditure."

-PRIORITY OF ARTICLE 301-

The report also urges the Turkish government and the parliament to carry out, as a priority, the "repeatedly" promised reform of Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.
It also says the parliament encourages the Turkish authorities to resolutely pursue investigations into the Ergenekon affair, "to fully uncover its networks reaching into the state structures and to bring those involved to justice."
The report welcomes the recent adoption by the Turkish Parliament of the Law on Foundations and says "the European Commission should analyse whether the Law addresses all shortcomings faced by non-Muslim religious communities with regard to property management and acquisition, including expropriated property sold to third parties."
The draft report also "urges the Turkish government to launch, as a matter of priority, a political initiative favouring a lasting settlement of the Kurdish issue," and calls upon the Democratic Society Party (DTP), its members of parliament and mayors "to engage constructively in the quest for a political solution to the Kurdish issue within the democratic Turkish state."
It strongly condemns the violence perpetrated by the terrorist organization PKK and reiterates European Parliament`s solidarity with Turkey in its fight against terrorism. The report urges the Iraqi government and the regional Kurdish administration not to allow Iraqi territory to be used as base for terrorist acts against Turkey.
Committee draft report stresses the need to arrive at a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus question within the UN framework, claiming that "the withdrawal of Turkish forces would facilitate the negotiation of a settlement."
Oomen-Ruijten`s report also calls on the European Commission and the Turkish government to start negotiations on an EU-Turkey visa facilitation agreement.
(TÇ-AY)