Will Turkey Succeed in Fooling Europe By Adopting a Series of Fake Reforms?

California Courier Publisher

October 3, 2002

By Harut Sassounian

The Turkish Parliament, after a raucous all-night debate, approved in early August a 14-point reform package to be able to meet the requirements for the country's entry into the European Union.

Despite fierce opposition, the parliament abolished the death penalty (except during times of war) and granted long overdue certain basic rights to Turkey's minorities, such as legalized education and broadcasts in their native language and the lifting of a ban on bequests to Armenian, Greek and Jewish foundations.

The EU had made these reforms a pre-requisite for eventual Turkish membership when it accepted Turkey as a candidate in 1999. The rush to pass these reforms was prompted by Ankara's desire to make a positive impression on the EU before it drafted its progress report in October. Turkey wanted to be included in the list of 10 countries that the EU will select in December for the start of membership talks.

It is evident that the Turkish leaders, rather than providing greater freedoms to their citizens, are trying to find ingenious ways of appearing to meet the requirements imposed on them by the European Union. Spokesmen for various Turkish political parties, historians, and others openly declared their vehement opposition to these reforms.

According to the Turkish Cumhuriyet newspaper, the MHP political party objected to allowing ethnic minorities to own "a piece of the Fatherland." Mehmet Gul, a MHP Member of Parliament, declared that those supporting minority foundations were "siding with the enemies of Turkey." Irfan Kelesh, another MHP member, accused the backers of the new law of committing "treason" and aiding in "the occupation of Turkey."

The expression of such chauvinistic thoughts indicates the extent of intolerance and racism still prevalent in Turkish society. After all, these ethnic groups are citizens of Turkey and as such they should be entitled to all the rights enjoyed by the Muslim majority.

Beginning in 1974, the Turkish governments confiscated all properties donated to Armenian, Greek and Jewish foundations after 1936. The new law, approved by a vote of 227-118 on August 3rd, is supposed to allow these foundations, once again, to legally own land and buildings donated to them.

Immediately after the adoption of these reforms, and in the absence of any indication of how these new laws would be implemented, various Turkish leaders started to insist that the EU set a date to begin membership talks for Turkey. The EU officials, however, sought clarifications on these new laws and wanted to wait and see how they would be implemented. EU Commission spokesman Jean-Christophe Filori said: "The principle is great. Now we have to see the implementation in everyday life." Furthermore, the EU wanted to see progress in other areas such as the reunification of Cyprus, lessening the interference of the Turkish military in civilian affairs, and the improvement of the county's bankrupt economy. The European Central Bank, for example, seeks to hold inflation to no more than 2%, while Turkey hopes to be able to limit inflation this year to 35%. Last December, inflation in Turkey was 68%.

The first indication of what exactly the Turkish government had in mind in adopting these "more liberal laws" was revealed when the procedures for teaching Kurdish were published in the Official Gazette on September 19.

1) Those who wish to study Kurdish must be at least 18 years old and should have graduated from a school that has an official eight-year class system. In other words, those who want to learn Kurdish must first learn Turkish and graduate from a Turkish school.

2) The students cannot wear yellow, red or green clothes - these colors are deemed to represent Kurdish nationalism.

3) The students can only learn Kurdish on weekends and during summer recess.

4) The Kurdish language courses will have to be called "native language" classes. Subjects other than language cannot be taught in those classes.

5) Those teaching Kurdish should be of Turkish origin and be graduates of a university approved by the Higher Education Council. Furthermore, the Educational Committee must certify these teachers.

Regarding broadcasts in Kurdish, after checking with the Turkish intelligence services (MIT) and the National Security Council, the government decided that:

1) Kurdish radio broadcasts are to be made exclusively through the government's official station. Private stations cannot broadcast in Kurdish.

2) Broadcasts in "native language" will be limited to 2 hours daily.