EU Officials Assail Turkey for Treatment of Protesters

European Union officials criticized the Turkish government Monday for its treatment of dissenters and for the slow pace of implementing recent reforms that are meant to ease the country’s entry into the European bloc.

The criticism came a day after police in Istanbul attacked women rallying to commemorate today’s International Women’s Day.

Three EU officials said in a statement released here that they had been “shocked by the images of the police beating women and young people demonstrating in Istanbul” and “concerned to see such disproportionate force used.”

The three officials -- EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn, British Minister for Europe Denis MacShane and Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn -- were in Ankara, the capital, for daylong talks on Turkey’s bid for EU membership.

Television images showed truncheon-wielding police repeatedly beating and kicking women who had gathered in Istanbul’s Sarachane district to protest gender inequality and violence against women. Three women were hospitalized after police sprayed pepper gas at them. At least 63 people were detained.

Turkish authorities said they had broken up the demonstration because it was illegal. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul promised an investigation and said Turkey remained committed to the reforms needed to gain EU membership.

Some EU officials are skeptical, saying the nation has been backtracking on reforms after the European organization’s leaders agreed in December to open accession talks with Ankara. The negotiations, which are expected to last at least 10 years, will start in October, provided Turkey signs a customs protocol with Cyprus and holds rights abuses in check.

Gul pledged to act on both counts. In private, Turkish officials said their government was unlikely to open its seaports and airports to the Greek Cypriots until the EU fulfilled its pledge to end a decades-long trade embargo on northern Cyprus, which is controlled by Turkey. The divided Mediterranean island remains a major sticking point in Turkey’s relations with the European alliance.

“There is a disturbing complacency since December,” said an EU diplomat who asked not to be identified. “The Turks are playing straight into the hands of those in Europe who don’t want Turkey to join.”

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has yet to appoint a team to handle what might become the toughest and most controversial accession in EU history.

Human rights activists charge that despite Turkey’s proclaimed “zero tolerance” policy, torture of detainees remains widespread. They also charge that extrajudicial killings by authorities continue.

Police provoked a public outcry in November when they shot and killed a 12-year-old ethnic Kurdish boy and his father outside their home in the southeastern town of Kiziltepe.

Local officials have sought to shield the police from prosecution, saying the pair were terrorists.

Veteran human rights activist Husnu Ondul said, “Without sustained external pressure [from the EU], abuses will continue, justice will not be served.”