Turkish Reforms Get Mixed Reviews

A set of long-delayed reforms aimed at bolstering Turkey’s chances for membership in the European Union will help reduce widespread torture but do little to expand freedom of expression, human rights advocates and legal scholars said Thursday.

The package of constitutional amendments was passed by the 550-member parliament Wednesday despite tough resistance from the ultranationalist wing of Turkey’s three-party coalition government, whose members said the reforms would encourage Kurdish separatists and other enemies of the state.

Husnu Ondul, chairman of Turkey’s Human Rights Assn., the country’s leading advocacy group, said the changes will dramatically improve human rights in four Kurdish-dominated provinces where most abuses occur. Those four provinces are governed by special emergency laws.

Under the new law, detainees accused of so-called terror crimes can be held without trial for a maximum of seven days.

Previously, anyone accused of sympathizing with rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, better known as the PKK, or of committing other terror offenses--often with scant evidence--could be held indefinitely without access to a lawyer. As a result, hundreds of prisoners are languishing in jails throughout the four provinces.

It is unclear what will happen to current detainees under the new law.

Emergency rule was introduced throughout the southeast to help quell an insurgency launched in 1984 by the PKK, which sought to establish an independent Kurdish state.

Rebels declared a unilateral cease-fire following the 1999 capture of their leader, Abdullah Ocalan, and an atmosphere of relative peace now prevails. As the PKK began to scale down its attacks, the Ankara government started phasing out emergency rule in the Kurdish regions.

In 1999, Turkey became the first predominantly Muslim nation to be added to the EU’s list of official candidates for membership. But the country’s poor human rights record and its refusal to grant its estimated 12 million Kurds greater cultural rights are cited among the chief reasons why Turkey has not yet been admitted to the bloc.

Ondul said in a telephone interview that most of the reported abuses occur during pretrial detention. Reducing the length of that period will reduce torture, he said.

“It’s a huge improvement,” he said.

But critics say the reforms do not go far enough, noting that laws against insulting or defaming the Turkish state remain on the books, even though the maximum jail term has been cut from six years to three.

“The broad interpretation of the law will continue to result in scores of academics, journalists and politicians being prosecuted and jailed for expressing dissenting views,” said Nevzat Toroslu, head of Ankara University’s penal law department.

“The interpretation of the laws is left in the hands of the judges, and as long as the mentality of the judges does not change, there cannot be progress,” Toroslu said.

Turkey is likely to face a new round of criticism Wednesday, when Istanbul publisher Fatih Tas is to appear in court. Tas published a book containing excerpts from a speech by American linguist and social critic Noam Chomsky in which he accused Turkey of “brutal repression” of Kurds.

Prosecutors are seeking to send Tas to prison for a year. Chomsky said in a telephone interview that he would travel to Istanbul for the trial “to show support for this extremely brave individual.”

A senior Turkish official who declined to be identified acknowledged that “Chomsky’s presence would be hugely embarrassing,” partly because the trial coincides with a conference in Istanbul bringing together foreign ministers from Islamic and EU countries. The forum is meant to highlight Turkey’s self-proclaimed role as a bridge between East and West.

“With Chomsky around, more likely they’ll probably be focusing on our human rights record,” the official said.