BRUSSELS, Oct 1 (AFP) - Turkey has made significant reforms to prepare to one day join the European Union, but in many key areas they still fall short, according to an EU report revealed Friday ahead of its publication next week.
The report, first published by France`s Le Monde newspaper and seen by AFP in Brussels, listed a series of areas where Turkey has shown "a substantial institutional convergence ... towards European standards."
These include the abolition of the death penalty, a crackdown on torture, a reduction in the role the powerful military in society and increased tolerance for the Kurdish population, it said.
"Following decades of sporadic progress and partly because of a political consolidation after the 2002 elections, there has been a substantial institutional convergence in Turkey towards European standards," it said.
The Commission, the EU`s executive arm, is widely expected to recommend in its report to be published on October 6 that the EU start membership negotiations with Turkey.
The leaked report does not include those all-important recommendations, which will form the basis for a final decision to be made by EU leaders at a mid-December summit on whether to give the green light for talks with Ankara.
Turkey`s EU hopes were brought back on track at the weekend, when the Turkish parliament passed a reformed penal code demanded by the EU if it is to win a green light from Brussels.
EU enlargement commissioner said after those reforms were agreed that there were "no more obstacles on the table" to Turkey`s EU hopes.
But the report revealed Friday also highlights shortcomings in Turkey`s EU preparations.
"Although torture is no longer systematic, numerous cases of torture and in particular ill-treatment still continue to occur and further efforts will be required to eradicate such practice," the report said.
Complaints of torture outside of official detention centres considerably increased in the first half of 2003, it said.
Army chiefs who in the past stepped in to shape the direction of Turkey continue to exert influence through a series of informal channels, it lamented.
In addition new laws are often interpreted restrictively, religious minorities are not accorded the same rights as citizens from the Muslim majority, and human rights activists remain subject to harrassment, it said.
Turkey has been seeking EU membership since 1963 but the bid has been controversial, with many existing EU member states questioning whether the largely Muslim nation of some 70 million could fit easily into the bloc.
Separately, an "impact study" to be published alongside next Wednesday`s report says that Turkey`s EU entry should be good news if well managed, although Ankara may have to wait until "well into the next decade" to join.
"Accession of Turkey to the Union would be challenging both for the EU and Turkey. If well managed, it would offer important opportunities for both," said the study, leaked on Thursday.
"The necessary preparations for accession will last well into the next decade. The EU will evolve over this period and Turkey should change even more radically," it said.