Today’s recommendation by the European Commission that Turkey should begin negotiations for EU membership in 2005 is a positive step forward, but additional reform measures are needed before the European Council can credibly support a positive decision on Turkey’s membership, Human Rights Watch said today. The Council will announce its decision on December 17.



The Commission’s decision today recognizes the important steps Turkey has already taken to improve its human rights record and should encourage the government to make further reforms before December. The Commission’s decision is based on the 2004 Regular Report on Turkey’s Progress Toward European Union Membership. Human Rights Watch stressed that, for the EU’s membership criteria to be credibly fulfilled, the Turkish government must take a number of additional measures, most importantly to combat torture and to facilitate the return of the hundreds of thousands of villagers who were displaced during the 15-year armed conflict in southeast Turkey.



“The European Union cannot accept mere promises that it will implement safeguards for detainees,” said Jonathan Sugden, researcher for Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division. “Police stations need to be supervised by independent monitors. Otherwise, we may again see an increase in reports of ill-treatment or even deaths in custody.”



As for the internally displaced, Sugden stressed that “the Turkish government has so far failed to take any significant action to address the concerns of the displaced or facilitate their return to their former homes. Now is the time for the government to commit to a credible returns process that includes a specific role for the U.N. and other international agencies.”



The EU’s Regular Report recognizes Turkey’s progress in respect for human and minority rights, but also identifies a number of human rights criteria that the Turkish government has not yet fulfilled. The report notes that Turkey abolished the death penalty for all offences and in all circumstances, including wartime, in January 2004. It also describes the abolition of some criminal code provisions under which journalists and politicians were prosecuted for their peaceful speech, and notes that judges are increasingly using the European Convention on Human Rights as a basis to acquit writers for statements that would certainly have landed them in prison just a few years ago. However, the Commission also stresses that journalists are still threatened with imprisonment. Similarly, the Commission acknowledges that the legal protections against ill-treatment and torture in police custody are now among the best in Europe, but emphasizes that these are sometimes neglected in practice. Finally, it recognizes that broadcasting in minority languages, including Kurdish, began in June 2004. While the Regular Report indicates that this is “only a starting point,” it also recognizes that it represents an historic change for Turkey.



Despite these important reforms, however, the Turkish government has failed to take strong and effective measures to implement safeguards against torture and ill-treatment, or to support the return of the hundreds of thousands of Kurds displaced during the conflict with the Kurdish Workers’ Party (now known as Kongra Gel) during the 1990s. Human Rights Watch considers the Turkish government’s poor response in these areas unacceptable at this late stage in the EU accession process and is particularly concerned that the Regular Report’s recommendations are not sufficiently strong on either issue. The Commission and the Council must insist that these gaps are filled before Turkey’s membership process advances to the next stage.



The period from October to December 17, 2004, when the European Commission will determine whether Turkey gets a firm date to begin membership negotiations, provides an important opportunity for the EU to insist on specific steps to address these remaining areas of concern. Human Rights Watch calls on the European Commission to use this period of maximum leverage to ensure that Turkey commits to a concrete plan of action to guarantee the return of internally displaced Kurds to their homes in dignity and safety, and introduces sound supervision systems for police stations and gendarmeries throughout the country. The best chance for achieving these remaining reforms is through the leverage provided by the EU accession process. The EU should not squander this important opportunity to encourage long-lasting and thorough human rights reform.



Human Rights Watch notes that the European Council is expected to strengthen its mechanisms for monitoring human rights progress in Turkey and other candidate countries as they enter membership negotiations, and welcomes a more thorough and comprehensive human rights monitoring process for all candidate countries to better ensure that progress will be sustained once membership negotiations are underway.



“The Turkish government has made significant progress in many areas of human rights protection, but its reform process will not have credibility until the government opens police stations to independent outside monitors and establishes a partnership with the international community for the return of the displaced,” said Sugden. “If, and only if, they can fill these gaps by December then a positive decision by the European Council will be fully justified.”



See Human Rights Watch briefings: Eradicating Torture in Turkey’s Police Stations: Analysis and Recommendations at http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/09/22/turkey9366.htm , and Last chance for Turkey’s displaced? http://hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/turkey/2004/10