The holiday is over

By Yusuf Kanli
TDN- The holy Eid al-Fitr period has come to an end, and Turkey has slowly started returning to the bitter facts of life after a few days of relaxation.
The country has a very heavy agenda: fears of the further strengthening of the Turkish lira against major currencies, the approaching summit of European leaders on Dec. 17 from which this country expects top get a "clear and unconditional date without delay" for the start of accession talks and the like.
Turkish leaders will be making some last-ditch efforts in European capitals to soothe "Turkey concerns" and eradicate as many hurdles as possible in view of the country's more than 200-year-old European vocation.
The concerns of the French, the pressure emanating from some European capitals that are hiding behind Greece and the Greek Cypriots, the "Islamophobia" of European peoples -- particularly some European fundamentalists -- and xenophobic trends in various countries will all be addressed as fully as possible by Turkish leaders during trips to Europe and at the Sharm el-Sheikh terrorism summit as well as in Ankara contacts.
Time is short, and Turkey wants to eliminate as many hurdles as possible before the Dec. 17 summit, which in fact has an even more significant meaning for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government than for Turkey in general because of the domestic balances here.
Together with those efforts, the AKP government must utilize the short period of time remaining by enhancing reforms and implementing as many of the harmonization laws legislated over the past several years as possible. The first thing that could be done, perhaps, might be lending support to a drive by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) to restrict parliamentary immunity. The CHP needs 13 more signatures to be able to submit a constitutional amendment proposal, and even if it manages to garner the support of all independents (six deputies) and the four-seat True Path Party (DYP), it will still need the support of at least one AKP deputy.
Fighting corruption, favoritism and all sorts of graft ought to be the priority of a Turkey seeking a secure place in the European family of nations -- although no one can claim that all European politicians are cleaner than their counterparts in Turkey. Removing parliamentary immunity would be a step in the right direction.
Other steps Turkey could take in the remaining period might be amending the laws on political parties and elections. With its massive parliamentary strength, the AKP could make amendments to these laws and eradicate their anti-democratic elements in a very short period -- provided it has the will to introduce democracy within parties as well as the adequate representation of the people's will in Parliament -- by lifting or easing the 10-percent national threshold in parliamentary elections that effectively closes the doors of Parliament to minority political groups.
We must also speed up the implementation of the harmonization laws to demonstrate the firm EU commitment of the country.
We have to make the best use of the remaining short period of time.