BURSA - State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ertugrul Yalcinbayir said on Wednesday that it was their duty to accelerate their commitments in the National Program.
Yalcinbayir, who came to Bursa province to spend the Feast of Ramadan, visited Bursa Governor's Office and Municipality.
Following his meeting with Bursa Governor Ali Fuat Guven, Yalcinbayir told reporters that their aim was to ensure economic welfare and fully implement fundamental rights and liberties, democratization and rule of law.
Yalcinbayir said that the government was exerting utmost efforts to lift obstacles before democracy and prepared an adjustment package of 33 articles immediately after it came to power.
A constitutional amendment bill was prepared after the adjustment package, Yalcinbayir noted.
Yalcinbayir stated that a second adjustment package comprised of eight articles was prepared last night.
Noting that they were expecting a date to open accession negotiations with the European Union (EU) in Copenhagen on December 12, Yalcinbayir said that they were aware that laws and constitutional amendments that were previously passed were not sufficient although they were very important.
Yalcinbayir pointed out that they were determined to continue Turkey's progress and went on saying, ''a program about further steps will be announced in coming days. The main text in our hand is the National Program presented to the EU. It is our duty to accelerate our commitments in the National Program.''
''We have presented a bill comprised of 33 articles in this context and we are submitting another bill of eight articles. There will be other packages. Turkey's sincere will and seriousness about this issue are obvious,'' Yalcinbayir said.
Yalcinbayir noted that the EU well perceived Turkey's performance on the road to full membership and added that the busy diplomatic traffic in Ankara was an indicator of this.
Yalcýnbayýr said that EU adjustment laws packages covered very important regulations for implementation of the amendments done in the Constitution and for ensuring democracy, human rights and supremacy of law, adding that the adjustment law package which was submitted to the Parliament Speaker's Office on Tuesday included important provisions aiming at preventing torture. The new regulations prevent suspension of punishments and commuting the imprisonment into fines or other measures in cases of crimes of torture and bad treatment.
Yalcýnbayýr said that re-trial is not a new regulation, adding that when their package is adopted, the way to re-trial will be opened if a person applies to European Court of Human Rights which rules that person's certain rights were violated.