 |
Government yet to fulfill promises on democratization
The coordinator of the initiative, Interior Minister Beşir Atalay, frequently underlined that the aim of the democratization initiative is more freedom and democracy for everyone and the elimination of terror and that the government will take the necessary irreversible steps toward these goals, but many of the promised laws have not yet been taken to Parliament.
Within the framework of the initiative, there have been some improvements regarding the daily use of the Kurdish language. In prisons, inmates are allowed to speak in Kurdish with their visitors. State-run TRT 6, which broadcasts in Kurdish, was launched and private TV and radio stations were given permission to broadcast in other languages. A Living Languages Institute was opened at Mardin’s Artuklu University, but this led to disappointment among pro-Kurdish circles as they expected Kurdish language departments to be opened.
Another expectation that has not been fulfilled despite positive signals from the government is the reinstating of place names to their original Kurdish. The government hinted that villages and districts could change their names with the approval of the district governor, but for cities, a law is required, and such laws are not on the government’s agenda.
The government also issued regulations to remove checkpoints on roads and to minimize the amount of land to which access is prohibited, changes that would lead to an easier daily life. But all these regulations are carried out through circulars or administrative decisions, but the improvements that are planned require legal amendments that have not yet been prepared.
The government drafted a bill to solve the problem of children who are in conflict with the Counterterrorism Law or the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). According to current laws, minors can face trial as adults. The bill was sent to Parliament before the new year but was later withdrawn, and despite government promises, it hasn’t reappeared on the agenda as yet.
The government also declared that it will establish four institutions to improve human rights in Turkey, a project presented within the framework of the democratization initiative but one that is actually a requirement of the European Union accession process. One of those institutions will be the National Human Rights Presidency, which will come out of a restructuring of the Prime Ministry Human Rights Directorate.
The government promised that these institutions would be independent, have the power of sanction and be established through the participation of civil society. However, when the government drafted legislation on the National Human Rights Board, it was harshly criticized by the Human Rights Joint Platform (İHOP) for not fulfilling the promises it had made. The draft has not yet been sent to Parliament.
The other changes proposed are establishing an institution to fight discrimination, opening prisons to international monitoring following the approval of the UN Optional Protocols to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) and establishing an independent body to monitor the security forces. No legislation has been drafted on these institutions, but they have been opened to discussion among the relevant state organs. The democratization process also requires constitutional changes, but the government has declared that a new constitution can only be drafted after the 2011 elections.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AMANDA PAUL |  |
||
| Ukraine: a lost country | |||
| MÜMTAZER TÜRKÖNE |  |
||
| The 52nd anniversary of May 27 | |||
| ABDULLAH BOZKURT |  |
||
| Turkey and Mexico: Distant yet so close | |||
| BERİL DEDEOĞLU |  |
||
| Yemen and beyond | |||
| ARZU KAYA URANLI |  |
||
| On Memorial Day a few words to make your day memorable | |||
| ABDÜLHAMİT BİLİCİ |  |
||
| Google kidnaps Gül! | |||
| CUMALİ ÖNAL |  |
||
| Critical months for Egypt | |||
| GÖKHAN BACIK |  |
||
| Erdoğan, Gül and Davutoğlu: the inner bargain on Turkish foreign policy | |||
| DOĞU ERGİL |  |
||
| Qualities of power | |||
| İHSAN YILMAZ |  |
||
| The Egyptian elections, Islam and Islamists | |||
| EMRE USLU |  |
||
| Operational errors | |||
| JOOST LAGENDIJK |  |
||
| Europe can’t have it all. Or can it? | |||
| MELİH ARAT |  |
||
| Handmade | |||
| SEYFETTİN GÜRSEL |  |
||
| Poor-friendly economic growth and the AK Party | |||
| CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON |  |
||
| Missing women, missing opportunities | |||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
