ANKARA, Sept 13 (AFP) - Parliament here begins a major debate Tuesday to rid Turkey of its fascist-inspired penal code and ease its entry into Europe, but a clause making adultery a jailable offense has cast a pall over the proceedings.
In an extraordinary session expected to last at least one week, the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) seeks to amend nearly all 348 articles of the law copied in 1926 from that of Benito Mussolini's Italy.
Although it has seen several changes in the past, the code remains an obstacle to Turkey's European aspirations and the new draft provides for greater individual freedoms, bans torture and provides heavy sentences for "crimes of honor."
But a clause added by the AKP - rooted in pro-Islamic movements but describing itself as "conservative" - that makes adultery punishable by prison has caused a furore among liberals, feminists and most of the media -- not to mention the European Union Turkey hopes to join.
The controversy arrives at a time when Ankara, officially an EU candidate since 1999, awaits a crucial October 6 report by the European Commission that will recommend whether or not to launch membership talks.
The recommendation will serve as a basis for a final decision on December 17 by European leaders on whether to set a date for the start of negotiations.
Gunther Verheugen, the European Commissioner for enlargement, openly and strongly criticized the adultery clause during a fact-finding trip to Turkey last week.
"I cannot understand how a measure like this could be considered at such a time," Verheugen said. "It can only be a joke... It would be a mistake to try to restore it (adultery) to the criminal code."
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a devout Moslem who says the measure aims to "protect the unity of the family," has so far refused to back down despite the national and international uproar.
Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said Sunday in Brussels that passage of the bill as it stands would be a "serious obstacle" to Turkey's EU bid, because it "doesn't correspond with joining" the Union.
Other clauses in the section of the draft dealing with "crimes against the family" are also a source of controversy, such as one providing up to two years' jail for sexual relations between minors under the age of 18.
But Justice Minister Cemil Cicek on Monday played down the controversy and counterattacked, saying "any shortcomings can be corrected during the negotiation process."
"It can be said that some dispositions of the penal code clash with the values of the modern world," Cicek said. "But there is something else that clashes with the values of the modern world, and that is to break one's promise.
"If, on December 17, Europe does not give us a date to start negotiations, it will have broken its promise."
By introducing the clause, the AKP "wants to use adultery as a screen" to conceal other practices that clash with the principles of sexual equality, a spokeswoman for a feminist non-government organization told AFP.
Ilknur Ustun of KA-DER, which seeks a more active role for women in Turkish politics, said the bill is "a step backwards" in a country where polygamy is banned - although widely practiced in the countryside - and women gained the right to vote in 1934, long before most of Western Europe.
She also deplored the lack of any mention in the bill concerning the rights of homosexuals.
"It's as if they didn't exist," she said.