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European Union lauds approval of CMK amendment
The European Commission, in a written statement, characterized President Abdullah Gül's signing of the amendment into law as a step in the right direction. Aligning civilian control of the military with EU practices has been a recurrent theme in all EU documents related to Turkey and in particular in the Commission Progress Reports that have been prepared since 1998. The EU set out civilian-military relations as one of the top priorities for possible membership.
In a written statement by Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn's spokeswoman, Krisztina Nagy, Brussels declared the signing of the law as a step in the right direction, strongly reiterating that full civilian control of the armed forces was “one of the top priorities of Turkey on the way to accession.” Stressing that Turkey should limit the jurisdiction of military courts solely to the military duties of military personnel, the commission said it would continue to monitor civil-military relations.
As early as May 19, during the 47th Association Council of the EC-Turkey held in Brussels, the European Union said:
“As regards civil-military relations, the armed forces continued to exercise undue political influence. Senior members of the armed forces should refrain from making statements on issues going beyond their remit as concerns both domestic and foreign policy. Full civilian supervisory functions and parliamentary oversight of defense expenditure need to be strengthened. The EU calls on Turkey to adopt and implement legislation reforming the Court of Auditors with a view inter alia to providing it with the power of auditing military properties.”
Nagy stressed in a written statement to Today's Zaman that the commission takes note of the approval of the amendments modifying the CMK by the Turkish president.
“Fully aligning civilian control of the military with EU practices is a priority in Turkey's Accession Partnership and one of the top priorities of Turkey on the way to accession. As regards military courts, the Accession Partnership sets out that Turkey should limit the jurisdiction of military courts solely to military duties of military personnel. It appears to the Commission that the approved amendments go in this direction. The Commission will continue to monitor civil-military relations in Turkey and assess in detail these amendments in its upcoming progress report,” continued the statement.
In the revised Accession Partnership Document of 2008, which was approved by the Council of the European Union on Feb. 18, 2008, Brussels asked Turkey to do the following as short-term priorities:
“Civilian oversight of the security forces:
Strengthen efforts to align civilian control of the military in line with the practice in EU Member States. Ensure that the military does not intervene in political issues and that civilian authorities fully exercise supervisory functions on security matters, including as regards the formulation of the national security strategy and its implementation,
take steps towards bringing about greater accountability and transparency in the conduct of security affairs,
establish full parliamentary oversight of military and defense policy and all related expenditure, including by external audit,
limit the jurisdiction of military courts to military duties of military personnel.”
President Gül on Wednesday approved a law that includes a change to the Code on Criminal Procedure (CMK), clearing the path for putting members of the military in civilian courts during peacetime and barring military tribunals from prosecuting civilians.
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