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EU-Turkey Working Papers Policy Studies No Centre for European EU-Turkey Working Papers Policy Studies No. 2/August 2004 European Integration and the Transformation of Turkish Democracy Senem Aydın and E. Fuat Keyman Abstract This paper’s general argument is that the Copenhagen political criteria constitute the leverage that is making Turkish modernisation and democratisation more plural, multi-cultural and consolidated. In the first section, a historical overview of modern Turkey is undertaken from the perspective of political modernisation and democratic consolidation in order to assess Turkey’s ability to meet the requirements of the Copenhagen political criteria. The second section evaluates the impact of EU conditionality and the remaining problems and prospects in four major areas – the role of the military, human rights, protection of minorities and the judicial system. The paper concludes with the assessment that the dynamic process of change underway requires the continuation of efforts by Turkey to fully implement the Copenhagen political criteria and a credible policy of conditionality by the EU that respects the principle of fairness in relations between the two sides. Senem Aydın is a Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and a Ph.D. candidate at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels. E. Fuat Keyman is Professor of International Relations at Koç University and a member of the Coordination Board of EFPF. We would like to thank the participants in a seminar discussion of an earlier draft in Brussels in June 2004, along with Prof. Oktay Uygun and Elif Yıldırım for their valuable comments and suggestions. EU-Turkey Working Papers are the product of a joint project of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels, and the Economics and Foreign Policy Forum, Istanbul, entitled: Strategy for the EU and Turkey in the Pre-Accession Period Launched in August 2004, this new publication series covers both political themes (democracy and domestic governance, justice and home affairs, foreign and security policies) and economic policy (macroeconomics, Thinking ahead for Europe banking, energy, agriculture and the EU budget). The working papers will form the basis of a book, integrating all these aspects of Turkey’s EU candidacy. These materials will be presented for public debate at conferences to be held in Brussels on 27 September and in Istanbul on 8 November. CEPS is also electronically publishing a monthly Turkey in Europe Monitor, which is freely accessible at www.ceps.be. Those interested in regularly receiving the Monitor or in attending either of the two conferences are invited to write to [email protected]. Participation in the conferences is subject to a limited number of places. CEPS and EFPF gratefully acknowledge financial support for this project from the Open Society Institute of Istanbul, Akbank, Coca Cola, Dogus Holding and Finansbank. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed are attributable only to the authors in a personal capacity and not to any institution with which they are associated. ISBN 92-9079-513-1 Available for free downloading from the CEPS website (http://www.ceps.be) © Copyright 2004, Senem Aydin and E. Fuat Keyman Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 PART I: The Making of Modern Turkey .............................................................................................. 3 1. Kemalism and the will to civilisation ............................................................................................ 3 2. Kemalism and the Turkish state.................................................................................................... 5 3. The transition to democracy .......................................................................................................... 7 4. The crisis of national identity and the politics of difference ....................................................... 7 5. The search for a democratic consensus......................................................................................... 9 6. Turkey in the 2000s: Democratic opening.................................................................................. 11 PART II: Impact of EU Conditionality on the Consolidation of Turkish Democracy and Reform in Key Areas..................................................................................................... 14 1. National Security Council and the military................................................................................ 19 2. Human rights ................................................................................................................................ 22 2.1 The fight against torture and ill-treatment ............................................................................ 23 2.2 Freedom of expression.......................................................................................................... 27 2.3 Freedom of peaceful assembly and association .................................................................... 29 3. Protection of minorities................................................................................................................ 31 3.1 Non-Muslim minorities......................................................................................................... 31 3.2 The Kurdish question............................................................................................................ 34 4. The judicial system ....................................................................................................................... 40 4.1 Proper working conditions.................................................................................................... 41 4.2 Independence of the judiciary ............................................................................................... 42 4.3 Implementation of political reforms...................................................................................... 43 Conclusion: The Principle of Fairness............................................................................................... 46 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 48 European Integration and the Transformation of Turkish Democracy EU-Turkey Working Paper No. 2/August 2004 Senem Aydın and E. Fuat Keyman Introduction In recent years, Turkey’s reform process, aimed at opening of accession negotiations with the European Union, has been impressive. Since August 2002, the Turkish parliament has made a number of important legal and constitutional changes to upgrade Turkish democracy in accordance with European standards. These changes have been so radical and at the same time unexpected that they have shocked both the anti-EU forces in Turkey and the anti-Turkey factions in Europe. As a result of these changes, and the political will of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to work very hard on their implementation, both of the ‘anti-’ lobbies now face big legitimacy problems. Contrary to the discourse of the anti-EU forces, who have always argued that more democratisation would lead to more political instability in Turkey, these changes have created a more politically stable and internationally robust Turkey, and have been supported by a large majority of the Turkish people. Despite the false expectations of the anti-Turkey lobbies in Europe that, owing to its authoritarian, Kemalist, militaristic and state-centric traditions, Turkey could not initialise the political reform process to consolidate its democracy, both the AKP government and the state elite have demonstrated a strong political will to meet the Copenhagen political criteria. Moreover, they also made a courageous political step forward in accepting the Annan plan as a foundation for the peaceful solution to the Cyprus problem. At the end of 2004, the EU will decide whether to start accession negotiations with Turkey. The recent legal and constitutional changes to upgrade democracy in Turkey, as well as the AKP government’s efforts to implement these changes, would indicate that the EU’s decision about Turkey should be based on the principle of fairness. As the EU’s enlargement commissioner Gunter Verheugen has suggested, both the European Commission’s report on Turkey’s readiness to begin the full accession negotiations and the EU’s final decision at the end of this year should “use the same methodology and benchmarks, the same criteria and same rules” that have been applied to other new members of the EU and should not have “higher or lower standards for Turkey” or involve “double standards”. “We cannot have double standards. We cannot have 100 percent implementations. We do not do that even with our own countries”.1 What is the principle of fairness with regard to the EU’s decision about Turkey? In this paper, we argue that the EU’s decision has to be based on the Copenhagen political criteria or the level and the nature of democratisation and modernisation in Turkey rather than references to Turkey’s Muslim population or its geography. Regarding references to religion and geography, there is nothing that Turkey can do about these factors, since it cannot change its cultural identity or its geographical location. Such references are culturalist and any decision about Turkey and its place in Europe that has been taken on the
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