Mr President, since the last resolution adopted last November on the basis of the report by Philippe Morillon, which I welcome, Turkey has been through a year of great contrasts: it was a black year in terms of the economy, a tense year politically, and a year of progress, though unequal progress, in terms of the pre-accession process. On the one hand, we should welcome the real advances. Given the very serious financial crisis in Turkey since the beginning of the year, the government has had to play by ear. At the instigation of Mr Dervis, a radical stabilisation and recovery plan was signed by the three coalition government partners. It came into operation in the spring, under relatively satisfactory conditions, which have made it possible to undertake basic reforms, which had been put off for too long, and, more generally, to establish a healthier relationship between politics and the economy. In the short term, however, one of its unavoidable effects has been a severe drop in GDP, of 8% this year, which may have serious social consequences. The worsening of world economic conditions, both before and after 11 September, can, unfortunately, only make efforts to recover more difficult. During 2001, Turkey has been genuinely committed to a process of bringing itself closer to European democratic standards. We should welcome the fact that, at a particularly difficult economic time, a large part of government and parliamentary activity has been devoted to basic reforms linked to this European process. In March, the government presented its national programme for the adoption of the acquis. It is true that this first list of reforms is still vague as to the timetable for implementation and the exact scope of the proposed measures. However, since September, the Grand National Assembly has begun to consider several dozen – around 34 – constitutional amendments, the first half of which were adopted at the beginning of October. The results still lag behind current democratic standards: the death penalty has not been totally abolished, the non-Turkish languages are no longer banned, but are not fully recognised, the National Security Council remains, but civilians play a more significant part within it. Above all, most regrettably, the principle of the supremacy of international law – and thus, possibly, in the near future, of European law – over national law has been expressly ruled out. Undeniable progress has nonetheless been made, which the European Commission and the Council of Europe have welcomed as such. Furthermore, on 8 October, the government tabled a second legislative package of rights and freedoms, which relate to the penal code and penal procedure and the laws on anti-terrorism, the press, political parties, associations and demonstrations. The third advance outside parliament was that this summer saw the beginnings of a public debate on the taboo subject of the role of the military in political life. Finally, I would also like to highlight President Sezer’s courage in denouncing corruption, an endemic disease of Turkish society, and in using his legislative veto against texts which represented a step backwards for democracy. Because there are also delays and even retreats. In the political sphere, the year was marked by dramatic events in Turkish prisons. I will leave it to Mr Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who chaired the parliamentary committee which visited Turkish prisons, to express our views on this subject in a moment. The draft reform of the audiovisual legislation was rightly criticised by the president of the republic, since it did not comply with the principle of the independence of the audiovisual sector in relation to the political powers. The dissolution of the main opposition party (the Virtue Party) demonstrated that the political system has not stabilised and that changes in the law regarding the status of political parties are required as a matter of urgency. In general, a gulf persists between good intentions and reality in the human rights field, where progress is too slow: the torture and degrading treatment of detainees continues to be widespread, freedom of expression is still unusually restricted and several thousand people currently in prison for offences would, under our laws, be considered prisoners of conscience. The main groups working to defend human rights remain subject to what amounts to legal harassment. In the South-East, the end of armed terrorism by the PKK has not yet been turned to account in embarking on an overall policy towards the south-east provinces and Kurdish identity, and, likewise, the unambiguous European Court of Human Rights judgment has not been used as an opportunity to set free Leyla Zana and the other former parliamentarians from the Democratic People’s Party (HADEP) who are still in prison. Finally, since the consideration of the Poos report by Parliament, we have seen Mr Denktash’s surprising refusal to restart the negotiations proposed by Commissioner Verheugen, which I welcome, and the UN Secretary-General on the status of Cyprus. And we note that Turkey continues to block the draft agreement between the European Union and NATO, a draft which is all the more urgent given current international tension. In this area, as in others, the impression remains that the signs of openness which are, on occasion, expressed by governmental authorities, may be challenged by military powers, which still have an unusual influence on Turkish politics. Since our resolution of 15 November 2000, which is cited in our current motion for a resolution, our Turkish partners have been aware of the importance our Parliament attaches to the official recognition of the Armenian genocide. We hope that the processes of dialogue, such as those which bring together former diplomats and academics from Armenia and Turkey, will lead to a common understanding based on scientifically-recognised historical facts. Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the coming year will be crucial in testing the real desire of Turkish political leaders and Turkish society as a whole to move closer to the European Union. Over the coming weeks it will be possible to gauge the exact scope of the constitutional and legislative reforms regarding the rule of law. Coming months will be vital in judging efforts to modernise the economy. Finally, on the crucial issue of the status of Cyprus, after 27 years of political deadlock, the moment of truth extends from now until autumn 2002. The end of negotiations on Cyprus’s accession to the EU are set for that date, and this will make it necessary, finally, for both parties to adopt a clear position. Our judgment will be based on the facts. Turkey wishes to have its own models for society and democracy. This is a perfectly legitimate objective. The European Union does not impose one single model. On the contrary, its special achievement lies in bringing about the coexistence and collaboration of peoples who have had very different histories, for a long time mutually hostile, and who, on occasion, have very different ideas on fundamental subjects such as the organisation of society, changing moral values, relations between religion and politics, the status of minority communities or races and the application of the subsidiarity principle. But there are two needs which we all acknowledge. First of all, that there are universal values which make it necessary that fundamental human and democratic rights are guaranteed in the same way everywhere; secondly, that the models conceived in previous centuries must be adjusted to the needs of this one. European integration is a way of helping one another to comply with these requirements and to preserve our special qualities in an exciting and dangerous world.

Political group: PPE-DE