Turkish Govt Moves To Adopt Key Reform After Making Up With E.U.

ANKARA, Sept 23 (AFP) - The Turkish government announced Thursday that it would call parliament to an extraordinary session Sunday to enact a delayed penal code reform, following key talks in Brussels to defuse tensions over the country's bid to join the European Union.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) said it would ask the parliament speaker to recall lawmakers from recess on Sunday to urgently push through the reform package to overhaul the 78-year-old criminal code and ease the country's entry into the EU.
"We will call parliament ... to discuss articles of the penal code," plus two other related bills aimed at modernizing Turkey's judiciary, AKP parliamentary group deputy chairman Faruk Celik told reporters here.
The announcement came in the wake of crucial talks between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and EU enlargement chief Guenter Verheugen in Brussels after a week of turmoil over the delayed bill.
"Thursday's talks have removed a lot of meaningless debate," Celik said. "As of today, Turkey has a much clearer path (to EU membership) before it."
In a surprise move last week, the government withdrew the reform package just as it was about to be adopted amid a raging debate on whether to squeeze in a clause making adultery a punishable crime, a move that created a furore at home and abroad.
The AKP move sparked strong warnings from the EU, which said failure to adopt the bill would jeopardize Turkey's chances of starting accession talks with the pan-European bloc.
Verheugen said in Brussels that he had received assurances from Erdogan that would allow the European Commission to make a positive assessment of Turkey's bid.
"My conclusion is that there are no more obstacles on the table now," he said. "The assurance I got today from my friend Mr. Erdogan will allow me to make a very clear recommendation."
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, is due to publish a widely anticipated report on October 6 assessing Turkey's progress in achieving European norms.
The report will form the basis of a December 17 decision by EU leaders on whether to start membership talks with this vast and relatively poor country, whose population is overwhelmingly Muslim.
Turkey, which has been an official EU candidate since 1999, argues that it has fulfilled the necessary criteria to start negotiations, but its democracy drive was threatened by AKP plans to criminalize adultery.
EU officials said Erdogan had promised Verheugen that the bill would be adopted without the controversial adultery clause, which the AKP here confirmed.
"We, the AKP, have no plans on adultery," Celik said.
Turkey's main opposition party hailed the government's decision to reconvene parliament in an urgent session, but said the adultery flap had already damaged Ankara's EU drive.
"We are happy with the result, this is what we wanted," Kemal Anadol, a deputy chairman for the parliamentary group of the social-democratic Republican People's Party (CHP), told reporters here.
"Unfortunately, Turkey's EU policy has been harmed by unnecessary debates on internal politics, adultery and the penal code, strengthening the hand of those against Turkey's entry into the European Union," he added.
The CHP had on Tuesday submitted its own proposal for an extraordinary parliamentary session on September 28 to enact the penal code, but this was received coolly by the AKP, a ruling party spokesman saying it would be up to them to decide, since the party holds an absolute majority in the house.