AP, THE HAGUE: The European Commission should open EU membership talks with Turkey within 24 months, a Dutch advisory body said Wednesday, strengthening the hopes of the first predominantly Muslim country to seek membership in the 25-member union.
But the report to the Dutch government, which holds the rotating EU presidency and will oversee a decision on membership talks in December, said it would be unwise to set a target date for admitting Turkey, arguing that it could create false expectations.
The Advisory Council on International Affairs, presenting its report, praised Turkey for reforms in recent years, but said new democratic laws had not yet trickled down to lower bureaucratic levels, where human rights violations still occur.
The report cited the continued torture and mistreatment of prisoners at police stations, the widespread abuse of women and restrictions on free expression as hurdles to EU integration.
“There are major shortfalls in the area of women's rights,” said Peter Baehr, a human rights expert and member of the advisory council. “Hundreds of thousands of women are hit, tortured and killed and even forced to commit suicide.”
“Progress has undoubtedly been made, but concerns remain over the follow through of that progress,” Baehr said.
A period of two years was recommended as a maximum time for EU membership negotiations to begin, but commission members said the talks could start sooner if Turkey pressed ahead with reforms.
Ben Knapen, the commission chairman, stressed the need to weigh Turkey's membership carefully because of its sheer size and potential effect on the union.
Turkey's differing “cultural history and the fact that it is predominantly Muslim should not prevent the country from joining the EU,” said a summary of the council's report.
“Admitting a Muslim country may be new to the EU, but does not principally differ from earlier expansions. One way or the other, Islam should gain a place within the EU, if only because there are 20 million Muslims” in the EU countries, it said.
Targets for negotiations should be set, and talks could be suspended if Turkey failed to meet those targets, a council statement said.
Among those targets is whether Turkey's democracy is judged to be stable and whether it is adequately protecting human rights, the statement said.
Turkey's entry into the EU is one of the priorities of the Dutch presidency. A decision on when negotiations with Turkey will begin is to be announced before the Dutch presidency ends, in December.
The council recommended against setting a date for actual membership, even though it said Turkey had been waiting since 1959.
“An accession date should not be set because it could create false expectations and risk compromising careful preparation to an artificial, politically loaded timetable,” it said.
The Dutch council advises the government on foreign policy, in particular with respect to human rights, peace and security, development cooperation and European integration.
The council, which also reviewed Turkey's preparedness to negotiate its EU membership in 1999, based its findings on information provided by the European Commission, European Council and human rights groups, including Amnesty International.
EU leaders are to decide at a December summit meeting in Brussels whether Turkey has reformed sufficiently to begin membership talks – a major policy goal of successive Turkish governments.
Turkey has passed sweeping legal reforms in recent years, including banning the death penalty, allowing greater cultural rights for minority Kurds, limiting the role of the military in politics and broadening freedom of expression. Some of the reforms, however, have yet to be fully carried out.
EU officials have praised the reforms undertaken so far.
