ࡱ> oqn%` mbjbjNN 2t,,>< %^D666J8*Dn$J02"L  ///////1h_4 /6%%%/66  0***%R6 6 /*%/**66*  HN)*/000*54*j5*56*`*!//*^0%%%%JJJD dJJJJJJ666666 Turkey and Counter-Terrorism: The Impact of EU Conditionality on Political Reform Glnur Aybet On the 6th of March 2009, a conference was held at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies (RUSI) in London, entitled: Combating International Terrorism: Turkeys Added Value. The conference brought together British and Turkish officials and various experts to explore areas of cooperation in counter-terrorism between Turkey and the UK. The format of the conference was based on the UK Governments strategy for countering international terrorism, with the same sub-headings of: Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare.  The presentation concentrated on strategies to Prevent international terrorism. The focus of the session was on tackling disadvantages and supporting reform; the socio-economic investment schemes under GAP (the Great Anatolia Project); and the impact of EU membership criteria, or EU conditionality on the democratic reform process in Turkey. The papers focus concentrated on the impact of EU conditionality and recent political crises in Turkey on the political reform process as a measure to prevent terrorism. Although Turkey has suffered its fair share of international terrorism, with the Al Qaida related attacks in Istanbul in 2003, the main terrorist threat to Turkey comes from the PKK/KONGRA-GEL organization, which has been involved in a Kurdish separatist movement in the South East of the country since 1978. While the Kurdish issue in Turkey is placed within the context of cultural rights and democratic reforms, these were not the original objectives of the PKK. As a separatist organization, the PKK have been involved in a violent campaign to obstruct all efforts by the Turkish Government aimed at the development of the South East region. These have included the destruction of schools and clinics, the murder of teachers and doctors, sabotages against power stations, railways and bridges, and the GAP (South East Anatolia Project), which aims at modernization and development of the South Eastern Anatolia region. The terrorists campaign and the Turkish militarys heavy handed reprisals particularly in the 1980s and 1990s without the complementary track of political and economic reform, has perpetuated the economic backwardness and poverty in the region. The mentality and atmosphere of mistrust lingering from the 15 year long state of emergency which was lifted at the end of 2002, still endures. Therefore, political reform becomes an important tool in tackling disadvantages and turning around alienation to involvement in civil society and a common vision for future, which is one way to erode support for terrorism. Political Reform Through Crisis Internal political reform will play an important part in the settlement of a perpetuating peace in the region. It is unlikely that the involvement of third party regional actors as in the case of Northern Ireland will be relevant in the Turkish case. Parallels are sometimes drawn with Northern Ireland, such as between Sinn Fein, and the DTP (Democratic Society Party) . Although the Chief Prosecutor initiated proceedings in the Constitutional Court for the closure of the DTP in November 2007, the DTP are not subject to a government broadcast ban in the Turkish media, (as was Sinn Fein) despite their open support for the PKK. Nevertheless, the suspended case against a DTP MP for making pro-PKK remarks in 2006 was overturned by the Supreme Court, which means that failing the appeal the MP could go to prison. That being said, the same MP urged the Kurds to recognize a solution to the Kurdish problem within the borders of Turkey. Although the DTP were instrumental in securing the release of captive Turkish soldiers by the PKK in Northern Iraq, they were shunned for shaking hands with PKK militants when making the deal. How to deal with the DTP has become a growing dilemma for Turkey. While the partys entrenched position of not denouncing the PKK remains very sensitive and controversial, it is also clear that any political solution has to involve some kind of iterative dialogue with the DTP. While the President Abdullah Gl has met with the DTP leader Ahmet Trk, the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan has so far refrained from doing so. Meanwhile, the High Criminal Court has charged five DTP MPs with supporting terrorism, and has asked for their testimonies. The MPs have refused to give testimonies citing their immunity from prosecution as elected members of Parliament. This means that the Court could have them forcibly removed from the Parliament. A similar incident took place in 1994 when MPs from the then Kurdish Party, DEP, were arrested and taken forcibly from the Parliament. The AKP (Justice and Development Party) government have made it clear they would not like to see a repetition of the events of 1994 and have been trying to work out a solution to the crisis. This recent crisis could pave the way for a reform of the constitution which under Articles 14 and 83 exempts the implementation of immunity for parliamentarians if the crime was committed against the unity of the State and before their term in office began. Constitutional reform is being pushed further up the agenda by legal experts who have questioned the validity of the Penal Courts case against the President for fraud charges dating over a decade ago. The Window of Opportunity to Solve the Kurdish Issue Despite these twists and turns in the political situation, recently some analysts see a window of opportunity to move forward, because of increased international collaboration on the Kurdish issue but also because of an enhanced cooperation between the various state institutions, both political and military. Much of the window of opportunity discourse was initiated by the President Abdullah Gls comments that the time was ripe for positive developments of the Kurdish issue which had become Turkeys number one priority, although his remarks were initially received with skepticism from the MHP and CHP opposition parties. According to the journalist Cengiz andar, the PKK no longer have a reason to stay in the mountains because their original goal of separatism is no longer valid. The problem, he says, for the PKK is that they do not seem to be able to find a way to come down from the mountains either. Amnesty is still a controversial subject not likely to be mentioned in the short term. But if the PKK are stuck in the mountains as andar claims, then terrorism continues to perpetuate their existence. Of course, for a purely practical reason, that could not be sustained without the obvious support in logistics and supply that they continue to receive. The fresh approach to counter-terrorism in Turkey was also reiterated by the Chief of General Staff, 0lker Ba_bu, in his annual address to the war academies. General Ba_bu stated that counter-terrorism is a parallel process of various converging factors such as security, economic development, social-cultural factors and international collaboration. Furthermore his call for understanding the pain of parents, whose children have joined the PKK, was interpreted as a hint to a possible amnesty. Close in the heels of the military, came the announcement of a solution package to the Kurdish problem from the CHP opposition leader Deniz Baykal. The CHPs proposed package comprises amnesty as a confidence building measure only after the end of terrorist activities. It also includes changing the mentality of public institutions such as the judiciary and the police and advocates equal opportunity and in some cases positive discrimination to develop the region especially in terms of health and education. Finally the CHP package proposes going further than the governments recent state controlled broadcasts in Kurdish and advocates private channel broadcasts in Kurdish to the region under RTK (Supreme Board of Radio and Television) regulations which apply to all channels in Turkey. The CHP move has come as a surprise, given the partys opposition to the Presidents earlier overtures to a political solution to the Kurdish problem. Therefore, it would be fair to say that there seems to be a new momentum of cooperation from all sectors of Turkeys establishment, military and civilian alike to find a common approach to solving the Kurdish problem. In this context, Turkeys internal political reform process is crucial because unlike the case of the Northern Ireland peace settlement, the political input of third parties is limited in the Turkish case. While the Northern Ireland case was solved with the cooperation of Ireland as a regional third party, none of Turkeys neighbouring countries have a claim to Turkish territory in their constitution. The Good Friday agreement of 1998 was made possible with the Republic of Irelands amendment to its own constitution which saw the unification of the island as one territory. In the case of Turkey, regional third parties, such as Iraq, where the PKK are presently based, can only have an input in terms of security. For Turkey, the vacuum in Northern Iraq and the KRGs (Kurdistan Regional Government) reluctance to oust the PKK is perceived as a security problem, not a political issue. Therefore, a political solution can only be achieved in Turkey from a bottom up piece meal process of internal political reform and further engagement with civil society. However, the AKP governments piece meal and cautious approach to a political solution to the Kurdish problem may be slowed down or even derailed due to nationalist objections. While it would be wrong to expect the issue to be desensitized over night, the leader of the MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) criticized the governments opening to a possibility to resolve the Kurdish issue through political means The party has also remained silent about the militarys positive tone and the CHPs proposals. Meanwhile, the PKK would not like to see the reforms succeed, because it would draw away their support from the Kurdish communities. An Internal Process Enhanced with EU Conditionality All the while, the EU can also lose its legitimacy as an inducer of reform, if suspicions of the EU in Turkey endure, particularly through the perception that some EU states take little or no action to curb PKK activities and support bases in Europe. This is significant inasmuch as there is a widespread perception that political reform to manage the Kurdish issue is essentially an EU driven process. In reality, it is not. Turkey has already embarked on a road to deal with the Kurdish issue through a new internally driven momentum. Nevertheless, perhaps this new window of opportunity in solving the Kurdish issue can also be a catalyst to address some of the outstanding issues underlined in the EU Commissions 2008 progress report, particularly with regards to constitutional reform and the legislation on political parties. Recently, the European Parliament, in a resolution adopted on 12 March 2009, urged the DTP to distance themselves from the PKK, as well as appealing to all parties to contribute to a solution that enhances the stability, prosperity and integrity of the Turkish state. This kind of supportive role played by the EU in the reform process is not likely to elicit a negative reaction even from nationalist quarters. While the constitutional reform process has not moved forward since the dispute over the headscarf issue in early 2008, the recent crises over the political immunity of DTP MPs as well as the President who also faces a court decision to possibly stand trial, could kick start a new momentum in constitutional reform. This would be linked to a renewed attempt to amend the existing legislation on political parties, especially with regards to party closure cases and political immunity of elected parliamentarians, bringing the legislation in line with the European Court of Human Rights and recommendations of the Council of Europes Venice Commission (489/2008), published on 13 March 2009. Local administration is another key area of reform. The Progress Report urges the implementation of the local administration laws in order to instate a decentralization of powers in favour of local governments. Within this context, efforts to strengthen City Councils are seen as ways to enhance citizens participation of local government. Although the Parliament adopted the new law of municipalities in March 2008, it is still under review by the Constitutional Court. Overall, the Progress Reports main concern within the political criteria was the lack of dialogue and spirit of compromise between the main political parties which have had a negative impact on the smooth functioning of political institutions. The recent compatibility of positions amongst various political parties and the military over the Kurdish issue may be the breaking of the deadlock in political compromise that has held up the reform process so far. However, constitutional reform and amendment to the legislation on political parties has to be complementary to the process on the judiciary reform. Reforms in this area which started in spring 2008 are a priority for the EU Accession Partnership. However, there has been no progress on the establishment of regional courts of appeal, which the EU was expecting to be operational by June 2007. The report also suggests that there is a need for greater public awareness of state sponsored bodies dealing with human rights such as the Parliamentary Human Rights Investigatory Committee, the Human Rights Presidency under the PMs office and the Human Rights Boards. The EU benchmarks also link the Turkish reforms to compliance with existing international regimes such as OPCAT (Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture) which Turkey still has to ratify, as well as the GRECO (the Council of Europe, Group of States Against Corruption). The EUs acknowledgement of the governments plan to invest substantially in the GAP project for the development of the Southeast region is an important sign of encouragement and support. However, the lack of an overall government strategy to deal with IDPs (internally displaced persons) remains a cause of concern and is mentioned in the Progress Report. Particularly, IDPs in urban areas are a cause for concern as they suffer from economic and social marginalization. Furthermore, the return of IDPs has been difficult due to a lack of infrastructure and unemployment in the region. Therefore, while the EU can highlight priority areas of concern and offer suggestions and guidelines to what is essentially an internal process, the EUs conditionality linked to the accession process becomes important in transforming those guidelines into benchmarks. However, the opposition of some European countries like France and Germany to Turkeys accession to full membership of the EU can damage the power of the EUs conditionality in inducing and guiding internal reforms. This in turn emphasises the degree to which tackling terrorism in Turkey is necessarily an international process as much as a domestic one. The author is a Southeast Europe Policy Scholar, Wilson Center Southeast Europe Project and lecturer, University of Kent.  The UK Government strategy is available on:  HYPERLINK "http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/news-publications/publication-search/general/HO_Contest_strategy.pdf" http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/news-publications/publication-search/general/HO_Contest_strategy.pdf  The DTP is a Kurdish nationalist party whose candidates ran in the 2007 Parliamentary elections as independents. After reaching the required number of 20 MPs, they formed a Parliamentary group under the DTP, although if the DTP had ran as a party in the elections, they would not have been able to win above 10% of the national vote in order to be represented in the Grand National Assembly.  Between 1988 and 1994 a broadcast ban was imposed on Sinn Fein and 10 other republican and loyalist organizations by the British government.  Aysel Tuluk  Sevr Travmas1 ve Krtlerin Empatisi Radikal, 27 May 2007  Article 14 states that  None of the rights and freedoms embodied in the Constitution shall be exercised with the aim of violating the indivisible integrity of the State with its territory and nation, of endangering the existence of the Turkish State and Republic, constitutional rights should not be used for activities that aim to destroy the unity of the state and nation. Article 83 covers the immunity of parliamentarians but exempts this if there is a link to Article 14. Therefore, an elected parliamentarian accused of crimes under Article 14 before taking office can be prosecuted without immunity. See:  HYPERLINK "http://www.constitution.org/cons/turkey/turk_cons.htm\\" http://www.constitution.org/cons/turkey/turk_cons.htm\   Turkish Court Says President Should Go on Trial The Washington Post, 18 May 2009 and  Dokunulmazlik Krizini Anayasa Degisikligi Cozer Zaman Online,17.5.2009  Murat Yetkin,  Ankara zm Hesaplar1na PKK y1 Katmaya Karar Verdi. Radikal, 12 May 2009  Abdullah Gl:  Krt Sorunu Trkiye nin Birinci Sorunudur Milliyet, 9 May 2009. The CHP ( Republican People s Party) is a centre left party and the MHP ( National Action Party) is an ultra right wing nationalist party.  Cengiz Candar  Krt Sorununda 0yimserlik 0_aretleri Radikal, 12 May 2009  Commander in Chief of Turkish Armed Forces, General 0lker Ba_bu, annual address to the Turkish War Colleges, 14 April 2009. 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