Interview: Turkish court ruling narrowly keeps EU hopes alive

While the Turkish court’s close decision last month not to shut down the ruling AKP party kept the country’s EU membership bid alive, tensions between secularists and modern, moderate Islam remain strong and need to be closely monitored by the EU, Professor Kevin Featherstone of the London School of Economics told EURACTIV Turkey in an interview.

Despite the “dramatic, one-vote rescue” of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s pro-Islamist AKP party by the country’s constitutional court, “the tectonic plates of secularism and a modernised, moderate Islam remain in tension and need to be watched,” Featherstone warned. 

While the 30 July ruling found the AKP guilty of anti-secular activities, it stopped short of actually closing down the party (EURACTIV 31/07/08). Featherstone suggested that the recent appointment of General Basbug to head Turkey’s military should now be used as an opportunity “to cool things down domestically”. 

Asked what the country needed to do to improve the increasingly critical mood towards Turkey among the European public, he suggested that the domestic judicial system there requires a serious overhaul. He particularly referred to the infamous Article 301 of its penal code, which outlaws criticism of Turkish identity. According to the scholar, this article reflects an anti-European mentality and needs to be abolished. 

The Turkish government has recently striven to make progress in this regard. The EU has made easing this clause a key condition in view of Turkey’s accession to the bloc (EURACTIV 30/04/08). Further constitutional amendments are foreseen in Turkey’s new EU roadmap, which the government revealed in a draft on Monday (18 August). 

Overall, 131 new pieces of legislation are planned, primarily aimed at strengthening the functioning of the judiciary and other institutions as well as adopting the EU’s environmental standards. For the latter alone, the government has set aside €20.4 billion of the total foreseen budget of €21.8 billion. The new roadmap can be considered as the government’s response to rising EU criticism over the slowdown in the reform process. 

But Featherstone says Turkey also needs to open up towards Europe in the cultural field if it wants to win the hearts of Europeans. He suggests launching cultural and educational initiatives across Europe to shift perceptions. “Turkey has focused too much on Americanism and it needs to invest in Europeanism,” he stressed, insisting that “Turkey has arguments to deploy that are underplayed”. 

Moreover, Featherstone suggests that Turkey should be bolder on foreign policy issues such as Cyprus, where the Turkish government needs to be more supportive of the efforts of the new Cypriot President Christofias to unite the island. 

“Christofias’ election is the best news to come from Cyprus since 2004. There is a new window of opportunity and it must be seized,” Featherstone urges.

To read the interview in full, please click here.  

Read more with Euractiv

Ukraine PM accused of 'high treason' over Georgia

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's office on Monday (18 August) accused Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, his 'Orange Revolution' ally, of betraying the national interest by failing to back Georgia in its conflict with Russia.