Turkey’s ‘à la carte’ approach to EU reforms

Having heard this many times before, there was a considerable amount of skepticism as to whether the prime minister would actually deliver. Ten months on I think it is fair to say that while Turkey has still not been able to produce the sort of high impact reforms it delivered during the early days of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in 2002, the EU dossier has been brought out of the cupboard and dusted off. Nowadays in Cabinet meetings the EU gets more than the previously reported two minutes of time. According to inside sources it sometimes manages to get 15 or 20. So while Turkey is far from scoring straight “A's” there has been some improvement, which is reflected in this years report.

Praise has been given for the appointment of a full-time chief negotiator and the increase in staff working in the EU Secretariat, for civilian oversight of security forces, judicial reforms (although strong concerns remain over the impartiality and efficiency of the judiciary), freedom of expression, cultural rights (Kurdish language TV channel TRT 6), the situation in the Southeast and developments linked to foreign policy including the significant steps taken with Armenia.

However, there is much room for improvement. While there has been progress on military-civil relations, Turkey's military brass still gets a hammering in the report. As in previous years there is criticism of its continued meddling and expression of opinions on numerous issues not in their remit. There are also concerns on women's rights (including honor killings and forced marriages), minority rights (for example, the report cites that the Greek minority continues to encounter problems with education and property rights), children's rights (juvenile justice system, child labor, health and education), village guards, freedom of the media (continued blocking of YouTube), fight against impunity and, of course, Turkey's lack of efforts to normalize relations with Cyprus.

Disappointment is also expressed on the lack of follow-up to the draft constitutional reforms prepared in 2008 by a group of academics. Having gone through the latest draft -- at the time of writing the final report was yet to be published -- I cannot help noticing that Turkey has something of an “à la carte approach” to the reform process. Over and over again the government has started to do reforms in a certain area but has either stopped half way or not taken them far enough. In some cases it has made the reforms but not implemented them. There is way too much cherry picking going on, which is why the commission continues to make statements such as “Efforts need to be translated into concrete progress,” particularly given the government's strong popular mandate and large majority in Parliament.

Looking to the future there are clearly a number of issues the EU is going to be keeping a close eye on, which will be a test of the government's credibility and as the report states “an opportunity for Turkey to strengthen confidence in the proper functioning of its democratic institutions and the rule of law,” including the ongoing investigation into the Ergenekon criminal network. The second is the Kurdish initiative. As Prime Minister Erdoğan prepares to launch his “road show” to promote and explain the initiative both in Turkey and Europe, the EU is waiting to see “talk” replaced by concrete measures.

There is also concern over the continued animosity between the prime minister and the leader of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Deniz Baykal. It is a pretty desperate situation in a functioning democracy when the main opposition leader refuses to talk with the leader of the country unless he is filmed and recorded. Baykal seems to be suspicious of everything that does not come from his own party or from the military and continues to be inconsistent when it comes to the EU. He has been negative about the government's Kurdish initiative and has opposed the normalization of relations with Armenia by way of hiding behind Azerbaijan's skirt. Usually the opposition can act as a good check and balance for the government, but in this case Baykal is not able to play that role, which is disappointing for the EU.

Overall, a mediocre report with plenty of room for improvement if Turkey is to prove it is really serious. And the drama is not over yet -- the EU December summit will have the final say on Turkey's non-implementation of its customs union to the Republic of Cyprus. Although it is unlikely there will be any major derailment, the days before will be full of drama.