EN    EN EN 
EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 14.10.2009 
SEC(2009) 1334 
  
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 
 
TURKEY 2009 PROGRESS REPORT  
 
  
accompanying the 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIA MENT AND THE COUNCIL 
 
Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2009-2010
 
{COM(2009) 533 final} 
EN 2   EN TABLE OF CONTENTS 
1. Introduction................................................................................................................ .. 4 
1.1. Preface................................................................................................................... ....... 4 
1.2. Context ................................................................................................................... ...... 4 
1.3. Relations between the EU and Turkey......................................................................... 5 2. Political criteria .......................................................................................................... .. 6 
2.1. Democracy and the rule of law .................................................................................... 6 2.2. Human rights and the protection of minorities .......................................................... 13 2.3. Regional issues and international obligations............................................................ 31 3. Economic criteria ....................................................................................................... 33 3.1. The existence of a functioning market economy ....................................................... 33 3.2. The capacity to cope with competitive pre ssure and market forces within the Union
............................................................................................................................... ..... 37 
4. Ability to assume the obligations of membership...................................................... 39 4.1. Chapter 1: Free movement of goods .......................................................................... 40 4.2. Chapter 2: Freedom of movement for workers.......................................................... 42 4.3. Chapter 3: Right of establishment and freedom to provide services ......................... 42 4.4. Chapter 4: Free movement of capital......................................................................... 43 4.5. Chapter 5: Public procurement................................................................................... 45 4.6. Chapter 6: Company law............................................................................................ 46 4.7. Chapter 7: Intellect ual property law........................................................................... 47 
4.8. Chapter 8: Competition Policy................................................................................... 49 4.9. Chapter 9: Financial Services..................................................................................... 49 4.10. Chapter 10: Information society and media............................................................... 51 4.11. Chapter 11: Agriculture.............................................................................................. 53 4.12. Chapter 12: Food safety, veteri nary and phytosanitary policy .................................. 54 
4.13. Chapter 13: Fisheries.................................................................................................. 56  
4.14. Chapter 14: Transport policy ..................................................................................... 57 4.15. Chapter 15: Energy .................................................................................................... 59 4.16. Chapter 16: Taxation.................................................................................................. 60 4.17. Chapter 17: Economic and Monetary Union ............................................................. 61 
EN 3   EN 4.18. Chapter 18: Statistics.................................................................................................. 6 2 
4.19. Chapter 19: Social Policy and Employment .............................................................. 63 4.20. Chapter 20: Enterprise and Industrial Policy ............................................................. 65 4.21. Chapter 21: Trans European Networks...................................................................... 66 4.22. Chapter 22: Regional Policy and Coordi nation of Structural Instruments ................ 67 
4.23. Chapter 23: Judiciary an d fundamental rights ........................................................... 69 
4.24. Chapter 24: Justice, Freedom and Security................................................................ 73 4.25. Chapter 25: Science and Research ............................................................................. 78 4.26. Chapter 26: Education and Culture............................................................................ 79 4.27. Chapter 27: Environment ........................................................................................... 80 4.28. Chapter 28: Consumer and Health Protection............................................................ 82 4.29. Chapter 29: Customs Union....................................................................................... 84 4.30. Chapter 30: External Relations .................................................................................. 85 4.31. Chapter 31: Foreign, secur ity and defence policy...................................................... 86 
4.32. Chapter 32: Financial Control.................................................................................... 88 4.33. Chapter 33: Financial an d Budgetary Provisions....................................................... 89 
STATISTICAL ANNEX .......................................................................................................... 90 
EN 4   EN COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 
Turkey 2009 Progress Report 
1. INTRODUCTION  
1.1. Preface 
Following the conclusions of the Luxem bourg European Council in December 1997, the 
Commission has reported re gularly to the Council and the Parliament. 
This report on progress made by Turkey in prep aring for EU membership largely follows the 
same structure as in previous years. The report: 
– briefly describes the relations between Turkey and the Union; 
– analyses the situation in Turkey in term s of the political criteria for membership; 
– analyses the situation in Turkey on the basi s of the economic criteria for membership; 
– reviews Turkey's capacity to assume the obligations of membership, that is, the acquis 
expressed in the Treaties, the secondary legislation, a nd the policies of the Union.  
The period covered by this report is fr om early October 2008 to  mid-September 2009. 
Progress is measured on the basis of decision s taken, legislation adopted and measures 
implemented. As a rule, legislation or meas ures which are under preparation or awaiting 
Parliamentary approval have not been taken into account. This approach ensures equal 
treatment across all reports and pe rmits an objective assessment. 
The report is based on information gathered  and analysed by the Commission. In addition, 
many sources have been used, including contri butions from the government of Turkey, the 
EU Member States, European Parliament reports1, and information from various international 
and non-governmental organisations. 
The Commission draws detailed conclusions rega rding Turkey in its separate communication 
on enlargement2, based on the technical analysis  contained in this report. 
1.2. Context 
The Helsinki European Council of December 1999 granted the status of candidate country to 
Turkey. Accession negotiations with Turkey were opened in October 2005. 
The Association Agreement between Turkey and the then EEC was signed in 1963 and 
entered in force in December 1964. Turkey and the EU formed a customs union in 1995. 
                                                 
1 The rapporteur for Turkey is Mrs. Oomen-Ruijten. 
2 Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2009-2010 (COM(2009)533 of 14.10.2009). 
EN 5   EN 1.3. Relations between the EU and Turkey  
Accession negotiations with Turkey  continued. During the preparat ory analytical phase the 
level of preparedness to star t negotiations on indivi dual chapters has been assessed on the 
basis of screening reports. Of a total of 33 scre ening reports, one has s till to be delivered by 
the Commission to the Council whilst nine  are being discussed in the Council. 
So far, negotiations have been  opened on eleven chapters ( Science and Research Enterprise 
and industry, Statistics, Financia l Control, Trans-European Netw orks, Consumer and health 
protection, Intellectual propert y law, Company law, Inform ation society and media, free 
movement of capital and taxation ) one of which ( Science and Research)  was provisionally 
closed . The December 2006 Council decision3 remains in force. 
The enhanced political dialogue between the EU and Turkey has continued.  Political 
dialogue meetings were held in  March 2009 at ministerial level and in February and July 2009 
at political director level. These meetings fo cused on the main challenges faced by Turkey in 
terms of the Copenhagen political criteria and reviewed progress being made towards 
fulfilment of Accession Partnership priorities. Fore ign policy issues related to regional areas 
of common interest to the EU  and Turkey, such as Iraq, Iran, the Middle East and the 
Caucasus, were also regularly di scussed. A number of high-level  v i s i t s  f r o m  T u r ke y  t o  t h e  
European institutions took place during the reporting period. 
The EC-Turkey customs union  contributed to a further increase  in bilateral EU-Turkey trade, 
which exceeded €100 billion in  2008, thereby making Turkey the EU's seventh biggest 
trading partner. Almost half of Turkey's total trade is with the EU. Th e EU asked Turkey to 
remove all remaining restrictions on the free movement of goods, includ ing restrictions on 
means of transport regarding Cyprus. A numb er of Turkey’s commitments on removing 
technical barriers to tr ade such as import licences, restri ctions on import of goods from third 
countries in free circulation in  the EU, State aid, enforcement of intellectual property rights 
and the use of safeguard measures remain unfulfilled. No progress can be reported concerning 
Turkey's longstanding ban on imports of live bovine animals, beef meat and other animal 
products. 
The EU provides guidance to the author ities on reform priorities through the  Accession 
Partnership , adopted in February 2008. Progress on thes e reform priorities is encouraged and 
monitored through the bodies se t up under the Association Ag reement. The Association 
Committee met in March 2009, th e Association Council in Ma y 2009. Eight sectoral sub-
committees have been held since November 2008. 
Turkey recently accepted to resume formal  negotiations on an EC-Turkey readmission 
agreement. 
As regards financial assistance , some €567 million have been ear marked for Turkey from the 
Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA)  in 2009. The Multi-Annual Indicative Planning 
Document 2009-2011, which provides the stra tegic multi-annual framework for all 
programmes at national level (covering all five IPA components), was adopted by the 
                                                 
3 The decision sets out that negotiations will not be opened on eight chapters relevant to Turkey's 
restrictions regarding the Republic of Cyprus and no chapter will be provisionally closed until the 
Commission confirms that Turkey has fully implemented the Additional Protocol to the Association 
Agreement. 
EN 6   EN Commission on 29 July 2009. Support continues to focus on institutions directly concerned by 
political reforms in the judiciary and the la w enforcement services, on the adoption and 
implementation of the acquis communautaire  in priority areas, on economic and social 
development, and on rural development. In addition, Turkey is benefiting from a series of regional and horizontal programmes under IPA. 
EU financial support has been provided to civil society development under the Civil Society 
Facility, in particular to enhance civi l society organisations´ administrative and 
communication skills, social dialogue and incl usion, culture, gender, children and regional 
issues . Under the Civil society dialogue Turkey's participation in EU programmes has been 
co-financed and projects in areas such as media, youth, academic institutions, local authorities, cultural organisations /centres and civil society orga nisations have been supported. 
In the context of the IPA crisis response package , Turkey benefits fr om €52.5 million of IPA 
national funds via a special Turkey window for multi-beneficiary programmes. The window 
supports energy efficiency investments, renewabl es and the EU harmonisation activities of the 
SMEs. The country also benefits from multi-bene ficiary funds to strengthen banking sector 
supervision. 
Assistance under IPA is implemented throug h decentralised management, meaning that 
assistance is managed by the Turkish authorities as a result of an accreditation process carried 
out by the Commission. Between October 2008 and July 2009, Turkey has obtained 
management responsibility for IPA components I -IV and relevant Financing Agreements for 
the implementation of programmes have been si gned. The legal basis for IPA implementation 
was completed in December 2008 with the no tification of the ratif ication of the IPA 
Framework Agreement. Turkey needs to comp lete preparations for the transfer of 
management responsibility under the rural deve lopment component (V), vigorously address 
system weaknesses including regarding monito ring and further improve the quality and 
efficiency of the project and programme cycles. 
2. P
OLITICAL CRITERIA  
This section examines progress made by Turk ey towards meeting the Copenhagen political 
criteria, which require stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and prot ection of minorities. It also  monitors the respect for 
international obligations, regional coopera tion, and good neighbour ly relations with 
enlargement countries and Member States. 
2.1. Democracy and the rule of law 
Investigations into the alleged criminal network Ergenekon continued. Charges include 
attempting to overthrow the government and to instigate armed riots. Ammunition and 
weapons were discovered in the course of the investigation. A first trial, which started in 
October 2008, is ongoing. A second indictment, covering 56 suspects including three retired 
generals and a former commander of the gendarmerie, was submitted to court in March 2009. A third indictment covering 52  suspects was presented to the Court in July. The cases 
concerning these two indictments are discussed in one single tr ial, which started in July 2009 
and is ongoing. This is the firs t case in Turkey to probe in to a coup attempt and the most 
extensive investigation ever on an alleged cr iminal network aiming at destabilising the 
democratic institutions. Furthermore, for the first time a former Chief of Staff testified 
EN 7   EN voluntarily as a witness. Concerns have been ra ised about effective judicial guarantees for all 
the suspects (see the section on the judicial system ). 
The case for closure of the Democratic Societ y Party (DTP), which was opened in November 
2007 by the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Cour t of Cassation, is stil l pending before the 
Constitutional Court. The party is accused of engaging in activities against the unity and 
integrity of the country. The DTP is represen ted in parliament with  20 members from the 
South-Eastern region of the country. On 14 March 2009 the Venice Commission of the 
Council of Europe published its opinion on the Turkish legislat ion governing the closure of 
political parties. It concluded that Article s 68 and 69 of the Constitution and the relevant 
provisions of the Law on Political Parties form a system which, as a whole, is incompatible 
with Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to freedom of assembly 
and association)4. The Turkish authorities have not ye t amended the legislation accordingly. 
Overall , the investigation of the alleged criminal network Er genekon has led to serious 
criminal charges, involving military officers. This case is an opportunity for Turkey to strengthen confidence in the proper functioning of  its democratic institutions and the rule of 
law. It is important that proceedings in this context fully respect the due process of law, in 
particular the rights of the defendants. Turkey still needs to bring its legislation on political 
parties in line with European standards. 
Constitution  
The political and societal debate on constituti onal reform continued. There is a growing 
awareness in the country that Turkey’s Cons titution, drafted in the aftermath of the 1980 
military coup, needs to be amended in order to allow further democratisation in a number of 
areas and give stronger guarantees of fundamental  freedoms in line with EU standards. These 
include, for example, rules on political parties,  institution of an Ombudsman, use of languages 
other than Turkish and enhancement of trade union rights.  
However, no consensus could be reached between political parties on constitutional reform. 
There was no follow-up to the draft constitutional reforms prepared in 2008 by a group of 
academics. Despite numerous announcements, the government did not put forward any proposal for amending the Constitution, nor did it propose any methodological approach, 
based on consultation, to that end.  
Parliament  
In March 2009 parliament established a cons ultative Committee on Equal Opportunities for 
Men and Women (see the section on women’s rights ). 
However, work on improving parliament’s rules of  procedure has yet to be completed. A draft 
proposal was finalised in February by the Consensus Committee on Rules of Procedure. 
                                                
 
4 The Venice Commission found that the situation in Turkey differs from common European practice in 
the following respects: (a) there is a long list of substantive criteria applicable to the constitutionality of 
political parties, which go beyond the criteria recognis ed as legitimate by the European Court of Human 
Rights and the Venice Commission; (b) there is a procedure for initiating decisions on prohibition or 
dissolution of parties which makes this more arbitrar y and less subject to democratic control than in 
other European countries and (c) there is a tradition of applying the rules on party closure to an extent 
that has no parallel in any other European country and which demonstrates that this is not regarded as 
an extraordinary measure, but as a structur al and operative part of the Constitution. 
EN 8   EN President 
Against the background of a confrontational po litical climate between the main political 
parties, the President made efforts to promot e dialogue between politic al parties and civil 
society as well as sound operation of the State bodies. He repeatedly recalled the importance 
of Turkey's accession process and called for an acceleration of EU-related reforms. The 
President continued to play an active role in foreign policy and travelled extensively abroad. 
His trip to Iraq, the first of a Turkish Pres ident for 33 years, contributed to a positive 
atmosphere as regards the Kurdish issue (see the section on the East and South East ). 
Government  
The government, reshuffled following the Ma rch municipal elections, expressed its 
commitment to the EU accession process and to political reforms. In December 2008 it 
adopted the national programme for the adoption of the acquis  (NPAA), as required by the 
Accession Partnership. 
In January 2009, for the first time since th e beginning of accession negotiations, the 
government appointed a full-time EU Chief Negotia tor, with the status of State Minister. He 
streamlined preparations and improved inter- ministerial coordination as regards accession 
negotiations. Furthermore, he c onvened meetings with stakehol ders, including ci vil society, 
thus promoting participation in, and a be tter understanding of the negotiation process. 
The European Union Secretariat-General (EUS G), Turkey’s main coordination body for EU 
affairs, was placed under the EU Chief Negotiator.  The latter prepared a law, adopted in June, 
granting the EUSG wider and clearer responsibili ties. The staff has increased substantially, 
and a new Secretary General has been appointed. The new structure is e xpected to enable the 
EUSG to function more effectively. 
The Reform Monitoring Group – made up of the Mi nisters of Foreign Affa irs, State Minister 
and EU Negotiator, Justice and the Interior –met  more regularly, i.e. every two months, after 
the Cabinet reshuffle. The Group provided st rong support to the process of reforms. 
However, these efforts need to translate into more concrete progress. Despite the 
government's strong popular mandate and larg e majority in parliament, overall limited 
concrete progress was made on political reforms. 
As regards local government , elections of municipal, specia l provincial administration (SPA) 
and village and neighbourhood councils were held throughout Turkey on 29 March 2009. The 
elections were free and fair, with a voter turn -out of over 85%, undersco ring the electorate’s 
trust in the electoral process. 
However, in the run-up to the elections, th e Supreme Electoral Board took a number of 
controversial decisions on the documents required in order to be eligible to vote, on voting for 
the persons with disabilities and on the ba n on headscarves for ballot-box observers. The 
number of women elected mayors was very low5 (see the section on women’s rights ). 
No progress has been made on devolution of powers to local governments, especially on 
establishing operational city councils, which are seen as a platfo rm to enhance public 
                                                 
5 Most of them were supported by the DTP. 
EN 9   EN participation in local government, and improving democratic governance mechanisms, again 
to enhance public participation. 
Transparency systems, particularly internal and external audits of loca l governments, are vital 
for enhanced accountability. Some  municipalities are reluctant to grant citizens access to 
municipal decisions, in particular  concerning development plans. In this context, in December 
2008 the Board on Access to Inform ation filed a complaint with the public prosecutor about 
rejections of requests for information by the Ankara metropolitan municipality. 
Overall,  free and fair municipal elections took place throughout the country. As regards EU-
related reforms, the decision to appoint a fu ll-time Chief Negotiator and the adoption of the 
national programme were positive developments. However, little progress can be reported on effective implementation of political and constitu tional reforms. The lack of dialogue and of a 
spirit of compromise between political parties is having a negative impact in this respect. As 
regards local government, most issues, includi ng devolution of powers and strengthening of 
local governance mechanisms, have yet to be addressed. 
Public administration  
As regards reform of public administration, in July 2009 the Council of Ministers issued a 
regulation establishing the princi ples and procedures for the ad ministration to deliver better 
public services to citizens. They focus on enha ncing e-services and information, establishing 
services standards and taking m easures for the disabled. 170 regul ations have been simplified 
and 421 administrative documents were eliminated. 
However, a number of key challenges remai n, such as reducing red tape, developing 
regulatory impact assessments (RIA), establis hing administrative procedures, enhancing 
transparency and improving policy- making and coordination systems. 
Implementation of the Public Financial Manage ment and Control (PFMC) Law remains cause 
for concern. Establishment of an effective and operational internal audit system, in the form 
of autonomous units within all State institutions, remained in complete. In this context, 
strategy development units, which are pillars of financial management and policy-making, 
need to be strengthened. 
Little progress has been made con cerning the civil service system. A  civil service reform is 
necessary in order to modernise human resource s management and furthe r develop a coherent 
personnel policy framework, based on transparency, accountability, political and merit-based career perspectives. The reform of the civil serv ice should also include legal guarantees to 
avoid politicisation of the appointment a nd promotion system where appropriate. 
In December 2008 the Constitutional Court annulled the Law aimed at establishing an 
Ombudsman, who would act as a link between the State ad ministrations and citizens (see the 
section on promotion of human rights ).  
Overall , little progress has been made on public ad ministration reform. Considerable further 
efforts are needed, in particular on the modernis ation of civil service. Reducing red tape and 
promoting administrative simplification, as well as further developing a professional, 
independent, accountable, transparent and mer it-based civil service remain priorities. 
Civilian oversight of  security forces 
EN 10   EN In June 2009 Parliament passed legislation providing for civilian courts to try military 
personnel in peacetime for crimes subject to He avy Penal Court jurisdiction under article 250 
of the Code of Criminal Procedure, including in the event of attempted coups d’état, crimes 
affecting national security and organised crime.  Furthermore, the new legislation lifted the 
remaining powers of military courts to try civi lians in peacetime, thus aligning Turkey with 
EU practices. The main opposition party CHP appealed to the Constitutional Court for 
annulment of the new legisl ation. The case is pending. 
The government amended the Regulation on the Organisation and Duties of the Gendarmerie 
in March 2009. The new regulation clarifies th e powers of the police and gendarmerie in 
urban and rural areas. It is now being implem ented, under the responsib ility of Governors. 
However, there have been allegations of seni or members of the armed forces being involved 
in anti-government activities. A total of 19 retired military officers – including five former generals – and five serving officers have been  accused of crimes including an attempted coup 
d’état in the Ergenekon case (see above ). An investigation into extra-judicial executions in the 
South-East in the 1990’s led to the arrest of a Gendarmerie se rving colonel, along with six 
other people.  
The judicial practice on the jurisdiction of military  courts needs to comply with EU practice. 
A trial against two non-commissi oned officers and an informant of the terrorist group PKK on 
the Şemdinli case
6 has been pending since the Court of  Cassation quashed a first-instance 
civil court conviction to  a total of 39 years’ imprisonmen t and transferred the case under the 
jurisdiction of the military court. The accused re main free – pending trial – further to the 
decision of the Van military court (see section on the judicial system ). 
The armed forces have continued to exerci se undue political influence via formal and 
informal mechanisms. Senior members of the armed forces have expressed on a large number 
of occasions their views on domestic and fo reign policy issues going beyond their remit, 
including on Cyprus, ethnicity, the South-East , secularism, political parties and other non-
military matters. On a number of occasions, the General Staff reacted publicly to politicians 
and media reports. During a press briefing in April, the Chief of General Staff made 
comments on the Ergenekon case and on the indi ctment, thus putting the judiciary under 
pressure. Some senior member s of the armed forces lent support to military personnel 
standing trial. 
No change has been made to the Turkish Armed Forces Internal Service Law or to the Law on 
the National Security Council. These define th e roles and duties of the Turkish military and 
grant the military wide room  for manoeuvre by providing a broad definition of national 
security. The 1997 EMASYA secret protocol on security, public order and assistance units 
remains in force7. 
No progress has been made on strengthening le gislative oversight of the military budget and 
expenditure. Likewise, the Defence Industr y Support Fund (SSDF), from which most 
procurement projects are financed, is st ill an extra-budgetary fund excluded from 
parliamentary scrutiny. Parliament has no mandate  to develop security and defence policies. 
                                                 
6 The defendants are accused of the November 2005 bombing that killed one person and inju red others in 
the town of Şemdinli in Southeast Turkey.  
7 The protocol allows military operations to be carri ed out for internal secur ity reasons under certain 
conditions without a request from the civilian authorities. 
EN 11   EN As regards auditing, under the Constitution the C ourt of Auditors can carry out external ex-
post audits of military expenditure. However, these audits are based on accounting records 
and take the form of desk reviews. Auditors are not allowed to conduct on-the-spot checks. Moreover, the court remains unable to audit movable assets belonging to the military, pending adoption of the draft Law on the Court of Auditors. Last year, the Court of Auditors decided 
that it has a mandate to audit the SSDF. Ho wever, implementation has not yet started. 
Concerning internal auditing, th e 2003 Public Financial Management and Control Law, which 
provides for internal audits of security in stitutions, has not been implemented yet. 
Overall , some progress has been made, in particul ar on limiting the jurisdiction of military 
courts. However, senior member s of the armed forces have ma de statements on issues going 
beyond their remit, and full parliamentary overs ight of defence expenditure needs to be 
ensured. The alleged involvement of militar y personnel in anti-government activities, 
disclosed by the investigation on Ergenekon, raises serious concerns. 
Judicial system 
The government approved the judicial reform strategy in August 2009. This is a positive step, 
both in terms of the consultative process
8 followed before its approval but also because its 
content broadly provides the right direction fo r reforms. The strategy is comprehensive and 
covers issues related to the independence, impa rtiality, efficiency and effectiveness of the 
judiciary, enhancement of its professionalism,  the management system and measures to 
enhance confidence in the judiciary, to facili tate access to justice and to improve the 
penitentiary system. An action plan to impl ement the strategy has also been approved.  
Some progress was made in hiri ng judicial staff. On 1 May 2009 there were a total of 7,081 
judges (6,914 on 1 May 2008) and 4,040 prosecutors (3,917 on 1 May 2008). 
However, the overall number of vacancies for ju dges and prosecutors remains significant, i.e. 
3,875 on 1 May 2009 (4,166 on 1 May 2008). 
Concerns remain about the independence, impart iality and efficiency of the judiciary. As 
regards independence , there has been no progress on the composition of the High Council of 
Judges and Prosecutors9 or on the reporting line s of judicial inspectors10. Under a 2007 
regulation, judicial inspectors can  request a court order author ising interception of telephone 
calls by members of the judiciary. The Şemdinli case is pending ( see the section on civilian 
oversight of security forces ). The dismissal of the civilian pr osecutor previously in charge of 
the case, together with the handling of th e case to date, raised questions about the 
independence of the High Council11. 
                                                 
8 The Ministry of Justice presented a draft strategy in spring 2008, further to which consultations with 
stakeholders, including civil societ y, took place. Judges and prosecut ors, including the High Courts, 
discussed the draft strategy on a number of occasions. 
9 The composition of the High Council is not representative of the judiciary as a whole; only senior 
members of the Court of Cassation and of the Council of State are me mbers of this Council. 
10 The judicial inspectors, who are responsible for evaluating the performance of judges and prosecutors, 
are attached to the ministry , not to the High Council. 
11 The civilian prosecutor in this case published the indictment in 2006. It included accusations against 
high-ranking military commanders. The General Staff criticised the indictment  and urged those bearing 
constitutional responsibility to take action. The High Council of Judges and Prosecutors took the 
dismissal decision in April 2006.  
EN 12   EN Senior members of the judiciary, of the military and of an association of judges and 
prosecutors have made statements which are likely to put the impartiality  of the judiciary at 
risk in important cases. With respect to the efficiency  of the judiciary, the regional courts of 
appeal have not been established yet. By law,  they should have been in operation by June 
2007. A final decision on their number and seats and on the timely provision of the material 
and human resources necessary for th eir operations has yet to be taken. 
High-profile cases raised concerns  about the quality of the inve stigations. Furthermore, there 
is a need to improve the working relationshi p between the police and the gendarmerie on the 
one hand and the judiciary on the other. Reports by civil society organisations and statements 
by witnesses, in particular regarding the alle ged criminal network Ergenekon, the murder of 
three Protestants in Malatya and the murder of  Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink cases, 
highlighted these concerns in specific cases. As  regards the latter case in particular, a report 
from the Prime Ministry Inspection Board questioned the security forces’ role prior to the murder. According to the report, the security forces appeared to refrain from taking action after having received credible information about death threats against Mr Dink. The trials in 
Istanbul, Samsun and Trabzon on this murder ar e continuing, but have not been merged, as 
has been requested by the lawyers re presenting the family of Mr Dink.  
There have been reports of violations of pro cedural rights of the accused in the judicial 
proceedings regarding the alleged criminal network Ergenekon. There have also been a large number of leaks of information collected in the context of this  case, against which court cases 
have been opened ( see the section on freedom of expression ). 
Members of the judiciary reporte dly do not limit pre-trial detenti on to circumstances where it 
is strictly necessary in the public interest. Th is adds to the overcrowding of prisons, where 
more than half of the inmates await trial. Judges appear to be  hesitant to implement probation 
as an alternative to imprisonment while there are problems with effectively monitoring people 
released on probation. There are concerns as regards juvenile justice (see the section on 
children’s rights ). 
Overall , some progress has been made in the ar ea of the judiciary.  The adoption by the 
government of the judicial reform strategy following a process of consultation with all 
stakeholders is a positive step. The measures  taken to increase sta ff and funding are also 
positive. However, these efforts need to be continued, and concerns remain with regard to the independence, impartiality and effectiveness of the judiciary, such as the composition of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors and the establishment of the regional courts of 
appeal. 
Anti-corruption policy  
Limited progress has been made in fighting corruption. In June, Parliament adopted a  law to 
amend the Penal Code and the Code of Misdemeanours. This is to take account of GRECO recommendations, align with international conv entions and to implement the requirements of 
the OECD Bribery Convention and the recommenda tions of the Financial Action Task Force 
(FATF) concerning the prevention of money-la undering. The law strengthens the legislative 
framework as regards the liability of lega l persons, prevention of money-laundering and 
foreign bribery.  
The government, under the coordination of the Prime Ministry Inspection Board with the 
participation of other State in stitutions carried out a broad c onsultation with stakeholders, 
including NGOs, with a view to prepar ing a national anti-corruption strategy.  
EN 13   EN The ministerial commission established to en hance good governance and transparency has 
hardly taken any political initia tive in anti-corruption issues.  
In the context of a fraud case against the char ity association Deniz Feneri in Germany last 
year, the Turkish prosecution continued the inve stigation in Turkey. Assets of the main 
suspects have been frozen in Turkey. However, no indictment has been submitted to the court. 
For the first time, the Ethics Board for Civ il Servants published f our decisions, in 2009, 
concerning non-compliance with ethics rules by pub lic officials, includ ing an elected mayor 
and managers of public companies. 
However, no progress has been made on extending the ethics rules to academics, military 
personnel and the judiciary. 
There has been no progress on lim iting the immunity of Members of Parliament as regards 
corruption-related cases. The opposition supports meas ures in this respect. Parliament needs 
to establish a permanent ethics commission to deal with complaints and allegations. There is no code of conduct for Members of Parliament . Moreover, objective criteria should be 
established to define the conditions under which immunity could be lifted.  The lack of control 
and verification of asset declarat ions remains a weak point in protecting the integrity system 
in parliament and government.  
No progress has been made on adoption of legisl ation on the financing of political parties and 
election campaigns, which would increase transparency. There is no state body with the 
authority to audit election campaign financing. 
There has been no progress towards adoption of the new legislation on th e Court of Auditors, 
which envisages the re-structuring and strengthening of the court.  
Overall , the legislative framework designed to prevent corruption has been improved. 
However, corruption remains prevalent in many areas. Turkey needs to finalise an anti-
corruption strategy and to develop a track record  of investigations, i ndictments, prosecutions 
and convictions. 
2.2. Human rights and the protection of minorities 
Observance of international human rights law As for ratification of human rights instruments, Parliament ratified the UN Convention on 
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, wh ich entered into force on 18 December 2008. The 
Optional Protocol to this Conven tion was signed in September 2009.  
Following a government decision in September 2009, the ratification of th e Optional Protocol 
to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT ) is now pending before Parliament. This 
Protocol requires parties to designate or es tablish an independent national preventive 
mechanism for monitoring places of detention.  
Turkey has not ratified three additional Protocols to the Eu ropean Convention on Human 
Rights (ECHR)
12.  
                                                 
12 Protocols 4, 7 and 12.  
EN 14   EN During the reporting period, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a 
total of 381 judgments finding that Turkey had violated the ECHR. The court concluded that 
there had been a violation of the right to a fair trial and/or the right to liberty and security in about one third of these cases. Most of the even ts on which the judgments are based date back 
to the 1990s or before the new Turkish Criminal Code (TCC) or Criminal Procedure Code were enacted. The majority of the new applicati ons to the ECtHR refer to the right to a fair 
trial and protection of property rights. A further 11% refer to freedom of expression and 5% to 
the prohibition of torture. Overa ll, there were more applications to the ECtHR against Turkey.  
Turkey continued to make progress on the ex ecution of ECtHR judgments. All pecuniary 
compensation was paid on time, totalling €5.2 million in 2008.  
However, implementation of ECtHR judgments requiring legislative me asures is delayed, 
sometimes for several years. The non-implementation of the Hulki Güne ş, Göçmen and 
Söylemez judgements results in th e deprivation of liber ty of the defendants for several years 
without due process of law. A legislative amen dment is required to remedy this situation. 
Furthermore, Turkey has not adopted legal m easures to prevent repetitive prosecution and 
conviction of conscientious objectors. Other cas es awaiting legislativ e measures by Turkey 
concern control of the activities of security forces, effective remedies against abuse and 
restrictions on freedom  of expression.  
In the Cyprus v. Turkey case, the issue of missi ng persons and the rest rictions on the property 
rights of Greek Cypriots living permanently in the northern part of Cyprus remain pending. 
The compensation mechanism put in place to addr ess the property rights of displaced persons 
fulfils, in principle, the requirements laid down by the ECtHR and has continued to receive 
requests for compensation. In its decision of 28 July 2009 the Court took note of the friendly 
settlement of the case Alexandrou v. Turkey  brokered by the Turkish Cypriot Immovable 
Property Commission and expressed satisfaction that the settlement is based on respect for 
human rights as defined in the Convention or its Protocols. However, the ECtHR has not 
assessed whether the available remedy is effectiv e for all relevant issu es. Turkey has not yet 
fully implemented the ECtHR judgments on the Loizidou and Xenides-Arestis cases. 
Several State bodies share the task of promotion and enforcement of human rights . These 
include the Human Rights Presidency under th e Prime Minister’s office and the Human 
Rights Boards (931 in all). These bodies have  the tasks of visiting places of detention 
(including State-sponsored soci al services) and of reviewi ng allegations of human rights 
violations. Overall, the number of applications to these bodies has increased substantially. 
Human rights training for public officials, ju dges, public prosecutors and police officers 
continued. In-service and on-the- job training for the gendarmerie  includes training on human 
rights and was supplemented by sp ecialist training on techniques to review  allegations of 
human rights violations.  
At parliament level, the Human Rights I nvestigation Committee established four sub-
committees on: torture, ill trea tment and prisons; freedom of thought, expression, religion and 
conscience; economic and social rights (inclu ding children’s rights); and harmonisation of 
legislation with the EU acquis . The committee also issued several reports on specific human 
rights cases.  
However, some human rights defenders have continued to face criminal proceedings in 
relation to their work. Lack of resources, i ndependence and public awareness are hampering 
the smooth operation of human rights institu tions. Discussions on the creation of a new 
EN 15   EN National Human Rights Institution to address thes e shortcomings have not been finalised. The 
government signalled its commitment to this  process. The Ombudsman Law adopted in 2006 
was annulled by the Constitutional Court on the grounds that the Constitution does not allow such an institution to be affiliated to parlia ment. Establishment of the Ombudsman therefore 
requires an amendment to the Turkish Constitution. However, the necessary consensus was not secured in parliament.  
Overall , there was some progress on observance of international human rights law. However, 
implementation of some ECtHR judgments re quiring legislative amendments has been 
outstanding for several years. Fu rther efforts are needed to strengthening the institutional 
framework on human rights, in particular as regards the establishmen t of an independent 
human rights institution and of an Ombudsman. The ratification of the OPCAT is overdue.  
Civil and political rights 
The government pursued its effort s to ensure compliance with th e legal safeguards to prevent 
torture and ill-treatment . Training for health personnel, ju dges and prosecutors on effective 
investigation and documentation of torture an d ill-treatment cases was stepped up in 2008, 
with a view to implementation of the Istanbul Protocol
13 in Turkey. Efforts to equip police 
and gendarmerie statement-taking rooms with a udio- and video-recording systems continued. 
Preparations for an independent  national mechanism to investig ate citizens’ complaints that 
will cover the police, gendarmerie and coastg uard services were completed in June. A 
decision by the Minister of the Interior is now  awaited before finalisation of the draft law 
establishing this body and subseque nt submission to parliament.  
The Council of Europe’s Committee fo r the Prevention of Torture (CPT)14 carried out a 
comprehensive mission to Turkey in June 2009. This visit was important to review the 
government’s zero tolerance policy, as human ri ghts NGOs had received more allegations of 
torture and ill-treatment in recent years. The CPT paid particular attention to the treatment of persons detained by law enforcement agencies (the police and gendarmerie) and to the 
conditions under which illegal im migrants are held in detenti on centres for foreigners. The 
CPT also examined in detail various issues related to prisons, including the activities and healthcare services offered to prisoners. Prom pt authorisation to publish the report on this 
2009 visit would contribute to highlighting the government’s  commitment to the zero 
tolerance policy on torture and ill-treatment
15.  
Ratification of OPCAT ha s been pending since 2005 ( see Observance of international human 
rights law ).  
                                                 
13 Istanbul Protocol: Manual on the effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other 
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment, submitted to the United National Human 
Rights Commissioner for Human Rights, 9 August 1999. 
14 The role of the CPT is to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in the 47 Member 
States of the Council of Europe. After each visit, the CPT sends a confidential report containing its 
conclusions and recommendations to the State conc erned. The State can then decide whether to 
authorise publication of the CPT report. 
15 All CPT reports on Turkey have been published so far. However, publication of some of them was 
delayed in the past. 
EN 16   EN Counter-cases are frequently in itiated by law enforcement bodies against persons who allege 
torture or ill-treatment. Such legal proceedings might result in deterring complaints. There is 
evidence that such cases are treate d expeditiously by Turkish courts.  
No forensic medical doctors are recognised by  courts, apart from th e Forensic Medicine 
Council, which is under the Mi nistry of Justice. This de facto  monopoly prevents 
development of effective and independent fore nsic services in the country. Furthermore, 
lawyers should be allowed to attend forensic examinations in case the doctor requests a law enforcement officer to be present during the examination for security reasons .  
As concerns the fight against  impunity  for human rights violati ons, sixty officials held 
responsible for the death in cu stody of Engin Çeber in 2008 we re indicted. The trial on this 
case started in January 2009 and is still in progress.  
However, there is a need to step up effort s to reduce impunity for human rights violations. 
The report on torture and ill-treatment by the parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Committee, adopted in January, notes that none of the 35 lawsuits filed against 431 members 
of the Istanbul police for ill-treatment or torture resulted in a conviction
16. The committee 
concluded that this leads to suspicions about th e effectiveness of proceedings initiated against 
law enforcement agents. According to the same report, only 2% of polic e officers are subject 
to disciplinary sanctions as a re sult of an administrative inves tigation of allegations of torture 
or ill-treatment. The committee co ncluded that such investigati ons should not be carried out 
by fellow police officers.  
The four police officers standing trial for ‘killing outside legitimate self-defence’ 
Ahmet Kaymaz and his 12 year-old son U ğur in November 2004 were acquitted by the Court 
of Cassation in June. The Kaymaz family appealed to the ECtHR.  
Overall , while the Turkish legal framework incl udes a comprehensive set of safeguards 
against torture and ill-treatment, efforts to implement it and fully apply the government's zero-
tolerance policy have been limited. Allegations of torture and ill-treatment, and impunity for 
perpetrators are still a cause for great concern, and need to beco me a priority area for remedial 
action by the Turkish authorities. In order to assess accurately progr ess in this area it would be 
helpful that the Turkish aut horities authorise promptly th e publication of the Council of 
Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) report. 
Access to justice was relatively easier in urban areas,  where detainees ha ve had access to a 
lawyer immediately after detention. However, there have been problems in rural areas, in 
particular in the South-East, where defendant s have not had access to a lawyer on terms 
equivalent to those in urban areas. Similarly, children from 15 to 18 years of age detained 
under the anti-terror law for part icipating in demonstr ations have not always had access to a 
lawyer immediately after detention. Overall, eff ective legal assistance is limited and a number 
of criminal defendants remain unrepresented. Defendants' awareness on the availability of 
free legal assistance ne eds to be raised.  
Turkey has been pursuing an ambitious prison  reform programme for a number of years, 
which has brought improvements to prison conditi ons and infrastructure. Further progress was 
made on implementation of this programme, by constructing new pr isons and closing a 
                                                 
16 By January 2009, 64 persons had been acquitted, 29 0 cases resulted in no prosecution and proceedings 
were continuing against 76 police officers. 
EN 17   EN number of small outdated prisons. There are f our centres which provide  pre-service and in-
service training for prison staff. A fifth is unde r construction and will be completed by the end 
of the year. Recruitment of 6,000 additional staff for prisons started in July, with the aim of 
completing the process by the end of the year17. 
However, implementation of the prison reform  programme is uneven. For example, it is 
difficult to implement in small prisons, which have inadequate resources. The current understaffing of prisons adds to these difficulties, as it prevents for example the organisation of communal activities or reha bilitation programmes for prisone rs. This is the case in high-
security F-type prisons, which still l ack communal activities for inmates.  
The rapid increase in the number of inmates, which has doubled in a few years, led to a 
growing overcrowding problem
18. Furthermore, the high proportion of prisoners on pre-trial 
detention has still to be addressed19 (see the section on the judicial system).  
The national framework for prison monitoring falls short of the requirements of OPCAT (see 
the section on tortur e and ill-treatment ). There are concerns as regards imprisoned juveniles 
(see the section on children's rights ). 
A new procedure has been establ ished in order to ease restri ctions on the use of languages 
other than Turkish on the phone. Visiting arrangements provided by law are more restrictive than required on any reasonable security grounds.  
There have been cases where serious illnesses th at require continuous tr eatment have not been 
considered grounds for release. Healthcare/psychiatric resources  are inadequate. The ratio of 
one doctor to 250 prisoners, which is necessary to allow proper medical care in prisons, is not 
achieved in Turkey. There have been repor ted cases of ill-treatment by prison staff (see the 
section on impunity ). 
Overall , some progress was made on improving tr aining and infrastructure, and recruiting 
additional prison staff. However, the problem of overcrowding and the high proportion of 
prisoners in pre-trial detenti on remain to be addressed.  
As regards freedom of expression , article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCC) is no 
longer used systematically to restrict freedom of  expression. Revision of  this article  led to a 
significant decline in prosecutions compared with previous years
20.  
The Constitutional Court annulled the provisi ons of the Anti-Terr or Law making media 
owners liable for publishing terro rist propaganda or praise of terrorism, further to the case 
brought by the former President in 2006. 
                                                 
17 On 10 July 2009, the total number of vacancies was 8,121 out of a total staff of 27,021.  
18 On 10 July 2009, the total prison population was 112,066 compared with a total prison capacity of 
90,558.  
19 On 10 July 2009, 53% of inmates were in pre-trial detention. 
20 The amendments to article 301 entered into force on 8 May 2008. These amendments introduced 
amongst other a permission requirement by the Mini ster of Justice in orde r to launch a criminal 
investigation on the basis of article 301. Further to th e entry into force of the revised article the Minister 
reviewed 914 pending cases (either at the prosecution or  trial phase) and authorised in total 77 criminal 
investigations to continue (i.e. 8% of the cases referred to him). Furthermore, the Minister of Justice reviewed 210 investigations initiated after the entry into force of the amendm ents to article 301 on 8 
May 2008, out of which he granted permission to eight criminal investigations to continue (i.e. 3% of 
the cases referred to him).  
EN 18   EN A petition signed by 200 Turkish intellectuals to denounce ‘the denial of the Great 
Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were su bjected to in 1915 […]’ and to apologise to 
the Armenians was launched on the internet. About 30,000 signatures were collected for this 
campaign, which sparked a wide deba te, including in mainstream media21. Furthermore, 
intense debates took place in the media on other topics perceived as sensitive by Turkish 
public opinion, such as the Kurdish issue, minority  rights in general, the role of the military 
and Atatürk’s legacy.  
However, the Turkish legal framework still fails to provide sufficient guarantees for 
exercising freedom of expression and, as a result , is often interpreted in  a restrictive way by 
public prosecutors and judges. There are still some prosecutions a nd convictions based on 
Article 301. Furthermore, a number of other provi sions of the Turkish Criminal Code are used 
to restrict freedom of expressi on, particularly as regards offe nces against dignity (Articles 125 
to 131 of the TCC), public order (Article s 214, 216, 217, 218, 220), state security (Article 
305), the constitutional order (Articles 312 and 314)  and obscenity (Article 226). In addition, 
prosecutions and convictions continue on th e basis of Article 318 of the TCC (on 
discouraging people from military service), the Law on Crimes against Atatürk, and the Law on Accepting and Applying the Turkish Alphabet
22. This legal uncertainty puts journalists, 
writers, publishers, politicians, academics and ot hers at risk of investigation, prosecution, 
conviction and imprisonment and could th erefore result in self-censorship.  
The amendments to the Anti-Terror Law, which were adopted in June 2006 in response to the 
escalation of terrorism, resulted in the suspension of several periodicals. The Constitutional Court rejected the case, introdu ced by the former President in  2006, against the provisions of 
the Anti-Terror Law allowing Prosecutors to ban publications for a period of fifteen days to 
one month. 
There are two tax-related procedures opened against the leading na tional media group Do ğan 
Media Holding. The high fines imposed by the revenue authority potentially undermine the 
economic viability of the Group and therefore affect freedom of the press  in practice. There is 
a need to uphold the principles of proportiona lity and of fairness in these tax-related 
procedures.  
Several civil procedures have been filed by poli ticians for violations of  their personal rights 
by publishers, journalists, writers or other politicians. The General Staff initiated cases on disclosure of prohibited information with rega rd to the incidents which took place in the 
South-East. Journalists face frequent prosecu tions for breaches of the confidentiality of 
investigations or attempts to influence a fair  trial (respectively Articles 285 and 288 of the 
TCC). Certain media outlets reque sting journalist accreditations were discriminated against. 
Senior political leaders called for a boycott of  newspapers and television channels owned by 
the Doğan Media Holding.  
Frequent website bans continue to be a cau se for concern. Judicial and administrative 
decisions block the entire website instead of filtering out unwanted content. YouTube has 
                                                
 
21 A non-prosecution decision was issued in January 2009 against those who launched the campaign. 
However, this decision was overruled by the Sincan 1st Heavy Penal Court on 2 March 2009. The 
appeal brought by the Ministry of Justice against this decision with the Court of Cassation is currently 
ongoing.  
22 Under this law, only letters which are in the Turkish alphabet may be used. 
EN 19   EN been banned since May 2008. Court cases ar e pending against Facebook, Google Sites and 
other sites.  
Overall , there is an increasingly open and free debate  in Turkish society, including on issues 
traditionally perceived as sensitive. Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code is no longer 
used systematically to restrict freedom of expression. However, there are prosecutions and 
convictions based on a number of  other articles of the crimin al Code. Turkish law does not 
sufficiently guarantee freedom of expression in line with the EC HR and the ECtHR case law. 
Political pressures on the media a nd legal uncertainties affect free dom of the press in practice.  
Further efforts were made with a view to implementing the legal framework on freedom of 
assembly . A circular issued by the Ministry  of the Interior in November 2008 (see the section 
on torture and ill-treatment ) stressed the need for correct implementation of apprehension and 
detention procedures, in particular to prevent disproportionate use of force by security forces. 
Police officers on duty during de monstrations carry visible numbe rs on their helmets in order 
to facilitate identification in the event of po lice brutality. This measure is now applicable 
nationwide. 
However, improving the difficult working conditi ons in the Turkish nati onal police, including 
with the aid of training, would be needed in or der to address the issue of use of force during 
demonstrations. Furthermore, certain provision in the Law on the Duties and Legal Powers of 
the Police, adopted in 2007, raise concerns about  protection of the right to life. Difficulties 
with implementation of this law are still being re ported. There have been cases of ill-treatment 
during routine identity checks. Judicial and admi nistrative investigations against members of 
the security forces who are involved in excessi ve use of force are not carried out effectively 
(see the section on impunity ).  
Newroz  (the Kurdish New Year) and 1 May dem onstrations, which were marred by police 
violence in previous years, took place peacef ully in most places during the reporting period 
However, demonstrations in the South-East of the country continued to be marked by 
violence. Investigation and vide o-taping of NGOs’ activ ities by security forces are still being 
reported, especially in the East and South-East of the country. 
As regards freedom of association , the number of associations and their membership 
continued to increase. The first elections to  the Foundations Council we re held in December 
2008. The new Foundations Council decided that the level of assets requ ired for establishing 
new foundations should be lowered considerabl y, thus further relaxi ng the conditions for 
establishing a foundation.  
The Council of State annulled a circular restricti ng university professors’ right of association. 
The circular issued in November 2008 by the Higher Board of Education prevented faculty 
members from taking up duties in professional organisations, foundations or associations 
without endorsement by their university.  
The Court of Cassation ruled against the closure of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and 
transvestite (LGBTT) Lambda Istanbul  Solidarity Association in April. 
However, the court’s ruling made the lega lity of the associa tion conditional on not 
"encouraging lesbian, gay, bisexual, transvestit e and transsexual behaviour with the aim of 
spreading such sexual orientations "; this is not compatible with the EU's rejection of 
homophobia and its anti-discrimination standard s. Furthermore, a closure case was launched 
against the Özgür-Der Associat ion for Freedom of Thought and Right to Education. It is 
EN 20   EN based on a press statement issued by the association in November 2008 in which it expressed 
its opposition to the national securi ty classes offered by military officers in schools. A judicial 
investigation is in progress against the Ista nbul-branch of the Huma n Rights Association. 
Both these closure cases were initiated by a complaint by the Istanbul Governorate.  
Some legal provisions place an undue burden on the operations of associations. There are high 
fines or severe punishments for failing to comply with the Law on Associations23. The legal 
obligation to notify authorities before receiving financial support from abroad places a burden 
on associations. Negative portray al in certain media and at tim es disproportionate inspections 
of NGOs receiving funds from abroad, includ ing EC funds, remain a further cause for 
concern.  
Problems with registration of associations and foundations, in particular  local representations 
of international NGOs, are still being reported.  At least two other cases regarding major 
foreign NGOs (International Crisis Group and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute) have been 
pending for more than a year.  
Trade unions continue to face obstacles in exercising their right to organise public 
demonstrations. Police intervention has not al ways been limited to cases where a genuine 
threat of public order was apparent.  
There is no progress to report on amendment of th e legal provision on the closure of political 
parties  (see also the section on democracy and the rule of law).   
Overall , the legal framework on associations is br oadly in line with European standards. 
However, considerable progress needs to be  made as regards its implementation, as 
associations still face disproportionate scrutiny of  their activities, which in some cases has led 
to judicial proceedings.  
There is a growing awareness in public institutions a nd in the public at la rge about the crucial 
role played by civil society organisations , including in the accession process  
However, some difficulties encountered with the consultation procedures reflect the lack of 
trust between State institutions and civil so ciety organisations. The legal framework for 
collection of donations and tax exemptions for NGOs needs to be strengthened, in line with 
EU good practice, to improve NGOs ’ financial sustainability.  
Concerning freedom of religion , freedom of worship continue s to be generally respected. 
Implementation of the Law on Foundations adopted in February 2008 proceeded smoothly over the reporting period (see the sections on the right to property and  freedom of 
association ). There has been some progress on obtain ing work permits for foreign clergy who 
wish to work in Turkey. In particular, the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s applications for work permits were answered positively in Decem ber 2008. The Turkish authorities, including 
representatives of the Mi nistries of Foreign Affairs and of  the Interior, visited non-Muslim 
religious communities in spring 2009 to di scuss their problems while in summer 
representatives of these communitie s met with the Prime Minister. 
                                                
 
23 In the event of failure to keep the necessary records of an association, the exec utives of the association 
are liable to imprisonment of between three months and one year. 
EN 21   EN In December 2008 the Minister of Culture partic ipated in the opening of the first Alevi 
Institute and apologised to the Alevis for past  sufferings caused by the State. In January 2009 
the Prime Minister attended an Alevi fast-b reaking ceremony for the second consecutive year. 
The government held workshops aimed at discussing openly problems and expectations of the Alevis; this effort was received positivel y by the Alevi community. The public service 
broadcaster screened a number of  programmes on the Alevi Muharram
24 celebrations. In 
another symbolic gesture, the Ministry of Culture started di scussions to establish in the 
Madimak Hotel in Sivas a cultural centre in  memory of the victims of the 1993 events25. 
Three municipal councils recognised Cem houses as  places of worship and granted them the 
same financial advantages as mosques. Administ rative courts in Antalya, Ankara and Istanbul 
ruled that Alevi students should be exempted  from attending the mandatory religion and 
ethics course. A similar ruling by the Izmi r administrative court was confirmed by the 
Council of State. 
However, under Article 24 of the Turkish Constitution and Article  12 of the national 
education basic law, religious culture and ethi cs classes remain compulsory in primary and 
secondary education. In Octobe r 2007 the ECtHR found that these classes did not just give a 
general overview of religions but provided specifi c instruction in the guiding principles of the 
Muslim faith, including its cultural rights. The court requested Turkey to bring its education system and domestic legislation into line wi th Article 2 of Protocol 1 to the ECHR. 
Implementation of this judgment is still pend ing before the Council of Europe Committee of 
Ministers. 
Non-Muslim communities – as organised structur es of religious groups – still face problems 
due to lack of legal personality. Restrictio ns on the training of clergy remain. Turkish 
legislation does not provide for private higher religious education for these communities and there are no such opportunities in the public education system . The Halki (Heybeliada) Greek 
Orthodox seminary remains closed, although its  re-opening was widely debated over the 
reporting period. The Armenian Patriarchate’s pr oposal to open a university department for 
the Armenian language and clergy  has been pending for a number  of years. The Syriacs can 
provide only informal training, outside any offi cially established schools. Despite the progress 
made on obtaining work permits for foreign clergy who wish to work in Turkey, overall 
procedures remain cumbersome. 
The Ecumenical Patriarch is not free to use the ecclesiastical title ‘Ecumenical’ on all 
occasions. In June 2007 the Court of Cassation ruled that persons who participate and are 
elected in religious elections held in the Patriarchate should be Turkish citizens and be employed in Turkey at the time of the electi ons. However, Turkish and foreign nationals 
should be treated equally as regards their ability to exercise their right to freedom of religion 
by participating in the life of organised reli gious communities in accordance with the ECHR 
and the case law of the ECtHR. 
Personal documents, such as ID  cards, still include informati on on religion, leaving potential 
for discriminatory practices. 
                                                
 
24 Muharram  is the first month of the Islamic calendar.  
25 On 2 July 1993 a mob besieged the Madimak Hotel in Sivas that was hosting a Pir Sultan Abdal culture 
festival. The hotel was set on fire, resulting in the death of 37 people – mostly Alevi writers, poets and 
artists participating in the festival. 
EN 22   EN Regarding places of worship, non-Muslim re ligious communities report frequent 
discrimination and administrative uncertainty: applications to authorities for allocation of 
places of worship are refused and existing Pr otestant churches and Jehovah’s witnesses’ 
prayer halls face court cases. Two cases regard ing Alevi places of worship (Cem houses) are 
pending before the courts, one of them before the Council of State. Despite the recognition by 
three municipal councils of three Cem houses as  places of worship, the overall policy of not 
recognising such houses as places  of worship has not changed. 
Members of minority religious groups have claimed that their worship activities are 
monitored and recorded by security forces. The Federation of the Alevi Bektashi Associations 
filed a petition against three newspapers fo r publishing derogatory and discriminatory 
material against Alevis. Attacks and threats against non-Muslim clergy a nd places of worship 
have been reported in a number of provin ces. A Turkish Bible So ciety bookshop in the 
southern city of Adana was vandalised for th e second time in February. Missionaries are 
widely perceived as a threat to the integrity of the country and to the Muslim religion. A court 
case against two missionaries in Silivri continue d; it was also expanded after the Ministry of 
Justice allowed judicial proceedings under Artic le 301 of the Criminal Code. The court case 
concerning the killing of three Protestants in  Malatya in April 2007 is still in progress. 
Judicial proceedings against conscientious obj ectors on religious grounds have continued. 
Public statements on the right to conscientio us objection have led to convictions. Cases 
against Jehovah’s witnesses regarding cons cientious objection are pending before the 
ECtHR26 (see the section on observance of  international human rights law ). 
Overall , implementation of the law on foundations has been smooth (see the section on 
property rights ). The Government has undertaken a di alogue with the Alevi and non-Muslim 
religious communities. However, their specific problems have yet to be addressed. Attacks 
against minority religions still occur. A legal fra mework in line with the ECHR has yet to be 
established, so that all non-Muslim religious communities and Alevi community can function 
without undue constraints, including as regard s training of clergy. Furt her efforts are needed 
to create an environment conducive to full re spect of freedom of religion in practice. 
Economic and social rights 
As regards women’s rights , a consultative parliamentary Committee on Equal Opportunities 
for Men and Women was estab lished by law in March 2009. It  monitors developments on 
gender equality, gives opinions on draft laws an d proposes steps to align Turkish legislation 
and practice with interna tional agreements. It also examines  complaints about violations of 
equality between women and men and gender-based discrimination. 
A legislative amendment granted public servants  employed under labour contracts the right to 
paid maternity leave of 16 weeks, the same as fo r public servants, plus the possibility to return 
to the same post, if they apply for it, at the end of their maternity leave. The preliminary results of the 2008 Turkey Demographic and Health Survey show an improvement in mother and child health indicators  over the last five years
27, even though regional disparities persist.  
                                                 
26 Applications 43965/04, 5260/07 and 14017/08. 
27 There has been a 13% increase in pre-natal care provided by health personnel, giving 93% coverage. 
The rate of deliveries assisted by health personnel has increased by 8%, to 90% overall coverage. 
EN 23   EN Awareness-raising activities and gender sensitiv ity training programmes for public service 
and health personnel have continued. In Ap ril 2009 a protocol was signed between the 
Directorate-General for Women’s Status and the Ministry of Ju stice with a view to training 
prosecutors and judges on viol ence against women. Women’s NGOs launched campaigns to 
increase female participation in local elect ions, such as the ‘50/50 equality’ campaign 
simultaneously with the European Women’s Lobby’s ‘50/50 no modern European democracy 
without gender equality’ campaign. 
However, gender equality remains a major chal lenge in Turkey and a gender equality body as 
required by the acquis has yet to be established (see chapter 19 – Social policy and 
employment ). 
Political representation of wome n, at both national and regional le vels, is very low. The local 
elections held on 29 March 2009 did not change this: there are only two female mayors at 
provincial capital level and sevent een at district town level. Overall, despite the pre-electoral 
rhetoric, political parties did not place a sufficien t number of female ca ndidates in electable 
positions. Finally, the Law on Political Parties a nd the statutes of the parties contain no 
provisions that could lead in practice to adequate political representation of Turkish women. 
Women’s participation in the labour market is still very low28. Women entering the labour 
market are likely to be employed in the informal sector; this makes their situation fragile. Overall, women earn less than men for work of equal value. 
Women’s access to education is the lowest  among the EU Member States and OECD 
countries. The good results on reducing the gender gap in primary education need to be sustained and improved, in partic ular by ensuring that girls c ontinue to attend school and by 
identifying and addressing school drop-outs (see the section on children’s rights ). 
Domestic violence, honour killings and early and forced marriages are still serious problems. 
The report on national research on domestic violence against women
29 illustrated the gravity 
of the problem: 39% of the wome n said that they ha d been victims of physical violence and 
15% victims of sexual abuse. On e out of every four women had been injured as a result of 
physical or sexual violence. Furthermore, the poll found that 48.5% of the victims had told 
no-one about the abuse, while only 4% had sought  help from the police and a mere 1% refuge 
in State-run shelters. Most Turkish women ar e still not fully awar e of their rights and 
significant further efforts are needed in this regard. 
In June 2009 the European Court of Human Rights published its cham ber judgment in the 
Opuz v. Turkey case30. It held unanimously that there had been a  violation of (a) Article 2 
(right to life) of the ECHR; (b) Article 3 (prohi bition of torture and of inhuman and degrading 
treatment); and (c) Article 14 (prohibition of  discrimination), read in conjunction with 
Articles 2 and 3, on account of the fact that the violence suffered by the applicant and her 
                                                 
28 A marginal increase was observed in women’s par ticipation in the labour market at the end of 
2008/beginning of 2009 compared with the same period the year before. However, this marginal 
increase needs to be put in the context of the glob al economic and financial crisis and the ensuing 
reduction of overall employment. 
29 This government-sponsored research was conducted as part of an EU-funded project in the summer of 
2008 on a sample of 12,795 women. A summary of the report is published on the website of the Directorate-General on the Status of Women. 
30 Application No 33401/02 concerning the Turkish authorities’ failure to protect the applicant and her 
mother from domestic violence. 
EN 24   EN mother had been gender-based, which amounted to  a form of discrimi nation against women, 
especially bearing in mind that, in cases of dome stic violence in Turkey , the general passivity 
of the judicial system and impunity enj oyed by aggressors mainly affected women. 
Women’s organisations report that family courts take a long time to issue restraining orders to 
protect women facing the threat of violence under the Law on Pr otection of the Family. This 
undermines the effectiveness of the law and leads to further vict imisation of women. 
There are only 54 shelters for female victims of  domestic violence. This is much lower than 
provided for by the law31 or required by the actual needs, both in terms of number of shelters 
and overall bed capacity. The availability and accessibility of intermediate protection and 
prevention services needs to be strengthened to meet the demand. 
After an initial improvement in cooperation between public institutions, brought about by the 
Prime Ministerial circular on combating hono ur killings and domestic violence against 
women, concerns arose about this issue over the reporting period. The local coordination 
boards32 envisaged in the circular fr om the Ministry of the Interi or have not been established 
as provided under the law. There is reportedl y lack of awareness among law enforcement 
forces and public administrations of the Ministry of th e Interior’s circular on violence against 
women and children. 
There is a lack of an effective dialogue of th e civil society organisati ons with the government 
on gender-related issues.  
Overall , the legal framework guaranteeing women’s rights and gender equality is broadly in 
place. However, further significant efforts are need ed to turn the legal framework into reality 
and to narrow the gap between men and women in economic participation and opportunity, 
political empowerment and access to education. Domestic violence, honour killings and early 
and forced marriages remain serious problems in  some areas of the country. There is a need 
for further training and awareness-raising on  women’s rights and gender equality, for both 
men and women. 
With respect to children’s rights , the gender gap in primary e ducation was halved from 2.3% 
in 2007/2008 to approximately 1% in 2008/20 09. The number of children in pre-school 
education increased by 14% from 2007 to 2008, taking the overall pre- school education rate 
up to 33%. The number of teachers in pre-schoo l education also incr eased by 14% from 2007 
to 2008. The e-school system enable s the Ministry of National E ducation to identify and reach 
children who are out of sc hool at any given time. 
According to preliminary results from the 2008 Turkey Demographic and Health Survey,  
infant, child and under-five mortality rates ha ve decreased. The infant mortality rate was 
measured as 1.7% in 2003–2008, a 47% decrease compared with 1998–2003. 
Under the 2005 Law on Child Protection, child cour ts need to be established in all 81 
provinces of the country. The number of such c ourts increased this year to 73 from 40 last 
                                                 
31 The 2005 Law on Municipalities provides for establishment of shelters for women in municipalities 
with a population of 50,000 or more. 
32 Under the circular, these boards should be establis hed at local level and include representatives of the 
Governorate, police, gendarmerie, municipality, local  religious office, universities and NGOs. They are 
expected to contribute to avoiding crimes in the name of honour and custom. 
EN 25   EN year. These are located in 33 out of the 81 pr ovinces in the country. Child Heavy criminal 
courts for handling more serious charges exist only in 7 provinces. 
However, the poverty rate of children under 15 years of age increased by 0.9% to 26.1% in 
2007. In rural areas the rate is as high as 42%. 
Regional disparities in primary school enrolment persist: there is a difference of more than 
10% between some western and eastern parts of the country. As regards continuation to 
secondary school, the net enrolment rate drops from 96.5 % at primary school33 to 58.5% at 
secondary school. 
No progress can be reported on combating ch ild labour, as the capacity of the national 
institutions responsible remains weak. There is  no effective inspection system. An integrated 
approach with well established structures and ad equate resources to eradicate child labour has 
yet to be adopted. 
As regards juvenile justice , under the 2005 Law on Child Protecti on all Turkish citizens up to 
18 years of age are considered children and en joy children’s rights. Ho wever, amendments to 
the 2006 Anti-Terror Law, in particular regardin g Articles 220 and 314 of the Criminal Code, 
provide that children between fifteen and eighteen  years of age can be tried as adults. In 
practice, the number of cases lodged against children in this age group on the basis of the 
amended Articles 220 and 314 of the Criminal Code  has increased considerably. For instance, 
minors participating in demonstr ations, particularly  in the South-East , face charges of 
‘membership of a terrorist organisation’ and, he nce, disproportionate, long prison sentences. 
Judgments are often based on statements by police officers and are not backed by firm 
evidence. Children have been allegedly ill-treated  after their arrest and before being taken to 
the prosecutor and have been prevented from  seeing their lawyer during that time. The 
absence of child prosecutors at the child courts  and the conditions of imprisonment have also 
been criticised. Finally, the psychologica l assessments of children cannot be properly 
prepared due to the shortage of competent staff. 
There are concerns about imprisoned juvenile s, the majority of whom are in pre-trial 
detention in adult prisons34, due to limited capacities of Juve nile Reformatories. The physical 
conditions and the quality of the services provided in juvenile detention centres need to be improved. More effective use of the probation sy stem should reduce the number of children in 
prison. 
Overall , efforts need to be further stepped up in a ll areas related to children’s rights, including 
administrative capacity, health, education, the juvenile  justice system and child labour. Cases 
of juveniles tried as adults and facing disp roportionate sentences raise serious concerns. 
As regards socially vulnerable persons and/ or persons with disabilities, Turkey ratified the 
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Di sabilities in Decembe r. Several publicly 
funded projects have been initiated to addre ss the problems of persons  with disabilities. 
However, mental health is an area of con cern. The CPT stressed the need for legislative 
reforms to safeguard the rights of mentally ill pa tients, in particular to ensure that they are 
                                                
 
33 This rate was approximately 97% last year. The di fference is mainly due to a change of statistical 
methods used by the Ministry of National Education to collect data. 
34 On 10 July 2009, there were 2,678 juveniles in prison, of whom 282 had been convicted. 
EN 26   EN given the opportunity to consen t to or refuse treatment, eith er personally or via a guardian. 
Courts and mental health institutions are not adequately applying the provisions in the Civil 
Code on involuntary placement in mental health institutions. Further efforts are needed as 
regards treatment programmes, physical infrastr ucture and training. There is no independent 
body in Turkey to carry out inspecti ons of mental health institutions. 
There are no comprehensive data on persons with a disability and on conditions of care for 
mentally ill persons. Community-based services, as an alternative to institutionalised services, 
are not sufficiently developed. People with ph ysical disabilities have problems in gaining 
access to services, mainly due to physical barrie rs and lack of awareness. Disabled persons 
were not provided with adequate facilities dur ing the local elections and the Supreme Board 
of Elections (YSK) took two decisions which ha d negative repercussion s on the exercise of 
voting rights by the disabled.  
As regards labour rights and trade unions , the reinstatement of 1 May as ‘Labour and 
Solidarity Day’ and a public holiday and the d ecision to allow trade uni ons to demonstrate (in 
small numbers) on Taksim Square in Istanbul were two symbolic steps, as trade union rights 
had been curtailed in Turkey after the 1980 military coup.  
However, the efforts to reform trade union legi slation did not bear fruit. The current legal 
framework – including the constitutional provisions  on trade union rights – is not in line with 
EU standards and ILO Conventions, in particular as regards the ri ght to organise , the right to 
strike and the right to bargain collectively, for either the privat e or public sectors ( see chapter 
19 – Social policy and employment ). There have been reports of  restrictions on exercise of 
existing trade union rights (see the section on Freedom of association ) and of dismissals due 
to trade union membership. Social  dialogue in Turkey is weak. Overall, the percentage of 
workers benefiting from collectiv e labour agreements is low.  
Members of the Confederation of Public Em ployees Trade Unions (KESK), which is an 
affiliate of the European Trade Unions Confeder ation, were arrested in the context of an anti-
terror operation (see the section on  Situation in the East and South-East ).  
The principle of anti-discrimination is enshrined in the Constitution and upheld in several 
laws. The Government raised public awareness on anti-discrim ination and decided that the 
first lecture of the school y ear should c this issue.  
However, the legal framework is not  adequately aligned with the EU acquis (see chapter 19 – 
Social policy and employment ). There have been several cases of discrimination at the 
workplace, where LGBT employees have been fired because of their sexual orientation. 
Provisions of the Turkish Criminal Code on ‘public exhibitionism’ and ‘offences against public morality’ are sometimes used to disc riminate against LGBT people. The Law on 
Misdemeanours is often used to impose fines against transg ender persons.  
Homophobia has resulted in cases of physical and sexual violence. The killing of several 
transsexuals and transvestites is a worrying deve lopment. Courts have ap plied the principle of 
‘unjust provocation’ in favour of perpetrators of  crimes against transsexu als and transvestites.  
The Turkish armed forces have a health re gulation which defines homosexuality as a 
‘psychosexual’ illness and identifies homosexua ls as unfit for military service. Conscripts 
who declare their homosexuality have to pr ovide photographic proof. A small number have 
had to undergo humiliating medical examinations.  
EN 27   EN With respect to property rights , implementation of the La w on Foundations continued 
smoothly throughout the reporting pe riod. The deadline for submissi on of applications for the 
restitution of properties re gistered under figurative or fictitious names, or in the name of the 
Treasury or of the Directorate-General fo r Foundations to non-Muslim foundations was 
27 August 2009. Overall, 1,393 applications were s ubmitted that are currently being evaluated 
by the Regional Directorates for Foundations. Under the Law on Foundations, a non-Muslim 
community foundation acquired two immovable properties through donati on. Representatives 
of the Turkish authorities met members of non-Muslim community foundations and visited 
Mor Gabriel monastery to disc uss property-related matters.  
However, neither the Law on Foundations nor ot her legal provisions address the issues of 
(a) properties seized and sold to third parties or (b) prope rties of foundations merged before 
the new legislation was adopted. 
Syriacs continue to face difficulties in relati on to property. A number of court cases are in 
progress concerning both private individuals and religious institutions. In particular, the Mor Gabriel Syriac Orthodox monastery has faced problems with land ownership. A number of 
court cases continued throughout the reporting period re lated to: new administrative borders 
between the monastery and nei ghbouring villages following cad astre work; Treasury claims 
that land used by the monastery belongs to the State; and claims by the Forestry Department 
that public forest areas are encl osed within the monastery’s exte rnal walls. The local judicial 
authorities brought a criminal case against the m onastery for ‘occupying’ this forest area. The 
monastery claims that the land belongs to it and that it has in its possession administrative and 
tax documents substantiating its claims. All cases are on-going. 
In March 2009 the ECtHR ruled that Turkey had violated the property rights of a Greek 
Orthodox church on the island of Bozcaada (Tenedos). It held unanimously that the refusal by the Turkish courts to register the immovable pr operty of the applicant foundation in the land 
registry in its name was in  violation of Article 1 of Protocol  No 1 to the ECHR. In the same 
vein, the ECtHR found Turkey in vi olation of Article 1 of Protoc ol No 1 (property rights) in 
two Armenian Foundation cases. Turkey has execut ed the latter judgeme nt of the ECtHR.  
Problems encountered by Greek nationals in inheri ting and registering property continue to be 
reported, in particular as regards, inter alia, the application by the Turk ish authorities of the 
amended Land Registry Law. With respect to that  issue, the ECtHR held that there had been a 
violation of Article 1 of Protocol 1 (peaceful  enjoyment of possessions) to the ECHR and 
ordered either the retu rn of the property or the financia l compensation of the applicants. 
Overall , the Law on Foundations has been implem ented smoothly over the reporting period. 
However, it does not address the issues of prope rties seized and sold to third parties or of 
properties of foundations merged before the ne w legislation was adopted. Turkey needs to 
ensure full respect of the property rights of all non-Muslim religious communities. 
Minority rights, cultural right s and protection of minorities 
A debate on minority-related issues has developed in th e country. Several reports by 
academics and NGOs have been published, in pa rticular on education and discrimination in 
education. Work is under way to remove discriminatory language from textbooks. 
However, Turkey’s approach to minority rights re mains restrictive. While Turkey is a party to 
the UN International Covenant on  Civil and Political Rights, its reservations regarding the 
rights of minorities and its re servation concerning the UN Cove nant on Economic, Social and 
EN 28   EN Cultural Rights regarding the right to educati on are causes for concern. Turkey has not signed 
the Council of Europe Framework Convention fo r the Protection of Natio nal Minorities or the 
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.  
There is a need for a dialogue between Tu rkey and the OSCE High Commissioner on 
National Minorities including on the participatio n of minorities in public life and broadcasting 
in minority languages. This woul d facilitate Turkey's further alignment with international 
standards and best practice in EU Member States. 
The Greek minority continues to encounter pr oblems with education and property rights, 
including on the islands of Gökçeada (Imvros ) and Bozcaada (Tenedos). Management of 
minority schools, includ ing the dual presidency35, remains an issue, pe nding an implementing 
regulation. 
The distribution in schools of the documentary ‘ Sar ı Gelin –Blonde Bride: the Truth behind 
the Armenian Issue’  was suspended by the Ministry of National Education following 
complaints by the Armenian community about wh at it considered discriminatory education 
offered to school children. However, the doc umentary was not withdrawn from schools and 
the decision whether to disseminate and show it wa s left to individual ed ucation authorities.  
Following the Israeli military intervention in Gaza in December 2008 there have been 
instances of hate speech agains t the Jewish community. After the latter expresse d its concerns 
and complained about the inadequacy of the current legal provisions regarding hate speech, 
both the President and the Prime Minister publicly condemned anti-Semitism.  
Overall , full respect for and protection of langua ge, culture and fundamental rights, in 
accordance with European standards have yet to be fully achieved. Turkey made limited 
efforts to enhance tolerance or promote inclusiveness vis-à-vis minorities. 
As regards cultural rights , in January 2009 TRT – the public  service broadcaster – started 
operating channel TRT-6, broadcasting in Kurd ish 24 hours a day. In September the Higher 
Education Board’s (YÖK) endorsed the appli cation from a Turkish University (Artuklu 
University in Mardin) to establish a “Livi ng Languages Institute” which would provide post 
graduate education in Kurdish and other langu ages spoken in the coun try. The public radio 
network started to broadcast in Armenian in March 2009.  
At the inauguration ceremony of  TRT-6, the Prime Minister spoke a few words in Kurdish. 
During the local election campaign, politicians and politic al parties used Kurdish in political 
activities. Although the use of a ny language other than Turkish in  political life is illegal under 
the Law on Elections and Political Parties, in most such cases no legal action was launched. 
Most court cases brought against Kurdish pol iticians for using the Kurdish language, for 
example for sending invitations or  holiday greetings or for m unicipal activities, ended in 
acquittals, although the prosecutors have lodged appeals in most of the cases. Governorships 
in several cities in the Southeast have started offering public services in Kurdish. 
However, criminal convictions against DTP members for using the Kurdish language in 
political life are pending. In July 2009, the Deput y Chief Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation, 
who is in charge of political pa rties, applied for the removal of  the parliamentary immunity of 
                                                 
35 (The deputy head of these schools is a Muslim representing the Ministry of Education and has more 
powers than the head) 
EN 29   EN several DTP members. The charges include us ing the Kurdish langua ge in Parliament. 
Following his dismissal in 2007 for providing muni cipal services in Kurdish, the same mayor 
was elected in Sur (Central Diyarbakir). Howe ver, a criminal case is pending against him 
based on the same charges.  
Restrictions laid down in the Law on the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) 
apply to private local and regional TV and radio programmes. Educational programmes 
teaching the Kurdish language are not allowed. Political debates or general entertainment 
programmes in Kurdish are virt ually impossible on private tele vision channels. Several court 
cases and investigations ag ainst GÜN TV – the only priv ate TV channel currently 
broadcasting in Kurdish – are in progress, in connection with the wording of Kurdish songs, 
the coverage of the municipal elec tion campaign and other programmes. 
Children whose mother tongue is not Turkish can not learn their mother tongue in the Turkish 
State school system. As regards university education, the ECtHR ruled against Turkey 
regarding the applicatio n lodged by 18 university students, who were suspended from Afyon 
Kocatepe University for demanding elective cour ses in Kurdish. The court ruled that the 
students’ right to educat ion had been violated. 
No measures have been taken to facilitate  access to public servi ces for non-speakers of 
Turkish. While interpretation is possible under the current legisla tion, it is not consistently 
applied in practice. Using the Kurdish language  in prisons may be problematic, with the 
situation varying betwee n prison administrations (see also sections on prisons ).  
As regards Roma , no steps have been taken to am end the Law on the Movement and 
Residence of Aliens, which authorises the Minist ry of the Interior to expel stateless and non-
Turkish gypsies and aliens that are not bound to the Turkish culture, thus promoting discrimination against Roma. Turkey has yet to  establish a strategy to address the problems 
facing the Roma population and provide it with  adequate legal protection. Turkey is not 
participating in the 2005-2015 in ternational initiative "The Decade of Roma Inclusion", 
despite calls on the government to do so by the Roma community.  
Roma face social exclusion and marginalisatio n in access to education, discrimination in 
health services, exclusion from job opportunitie s, difficulties in gaining access to personal 
documentation and exclusion from participation in public affairs and public life. As regards 
housing, the Roma population cont inued to face demolition of Roma districts under urban 
renewal programmes in various towns. The findi ngs of the inquiry by the Prime Ministry’s 
Human Rights Commission into the demoliti ons of the Roma neighbourhood in Istanbul’s 
Sulukule district, which started in spring 2008, ha ve yet to be published. At the end of his 
visit to Turkey, the Council of Europe Co mmissioner for Human Rights acknowledged the 
efforts made by the Turkish authorities to upgrade  the living standards in the historic area of 
Sulukule. However, he expresse d concern at the process of re location of the Roma, as some 
evictions had occurred without making altern ative accommodation available for the families 
concerned, contrary to Council of Europe human rights standards. 
Overall , Turkey has made some progress on cultural rights, especially in the form of starting 
the Kurdish-language TV channel TRT 6. However, restrictions remain, particularly on use of 
languages other than Turkish in private TV an d radio broadcasting, polit ical life, education 
and contacts with public services. The legal framework on the use of languages other than 
Turkish is open to restrictive interpretations  and implementation is inconsistent. There has 
EN 30   EN been no progress in the situati on of the Roma, who frequently face discriminatory treatment. 
Demolitions of Roma districts without pr ovision of alternative housing continue. 
Situation in the East and South-East 
During the reporting period Turkey faced continuous terrorist violence resulting in loss of life, 
despite a relative reduction of violence from the end of 2008. In December 2008 the European 
Union reaffirmed its support to Turkey in the fight against terrorism, which must be 
conducted with due regard for human rights, f undamental freedoms and international law.  
The visit of the President to Iraq and the Turkish rapprochement  with the Kurdish Regional 
Government (KRG) contributed to creating a positive atmosphere around a possible solution to the Kurdish issue. A vibrant domestic debate  developed on this subject, involving public 
and political authorities, including the opposition and civil society. In summer, the 
government launched a broad consultation with the view to solve the Kurdish issue through 
peaceful means and announced a comprehensive pl an to this end, but di d not reveal yet any 
detail on the substance. 
The government’s plan, announced in May 2008, to complete the South-East Anatolia project 
(GAP) and hence contribute to the socio-economi c development of the region continued with 
the allocation of additional resources. According to official sources, the GAP’s share in total 
public investments increased to 12% in 2008 (7.2 in 2007). Investments on irrigation, road 
transport, health and education were given pr iority. The GAP Administ ration’s headquarters 
moved from Ankara to th e South-eastern town of Şanliurfa. A monitoring, evaluation and 
reporting mechanism specific to the GAP was announced but not yet established. 
Contrary to previous years, the Newroz  celebrations in March 2009 passed by peacefully 
overall. Governorates in the region gave pe rmission for celebrations. There were no major 
confrontations between the police and demonstrators. 
In June parliament adopted a Law on the De-m ining of the Turkish-Syrian Border whereby 
anti-personnel and anti-tank mine s will be cleared in the next five years under the supervision 
of the Ministry of Defence, and if necessary  following public procur ement procedures. Under 
certain conditions, the law also introduces the possibility for private companies to carry out 
de-mining in return for the right to farm th e land for up to 44 years after de-mining is 
completed. The opposition party CHP argued that this measure is cont rary to Turkey’s 
national interests and referred the act to the C onstitutional Court. In July, the Constitutional 
Court accepted the case and decided to suspend part of the law provisionall y. This should 
however not affect de-mining operations. 
However, the use made of the anti-terror le gislation, which provides a wide definition of 
terrorism, has resulted in undue re strictions on the ex ercise of fundamental  freedoms, such as 
freedom of expression and freedom  of association, in the region. In several instances, the law 
has been used to punish non-violent opinions, in particular on the Kurdish issue. Since April 
2009 the police arrested several hundreds DT P members and executives for alleged 
membership of the terrorist structure KCK. A similar anti-terror operation was carried out against members of trade unions KESK and E ğitimsen for alleged membership of PKK ; 22 
of them remain in pre-trial detention. In Febr uary, a criminal court in Diyarbakir sentenced a 
DTP Member of Parliament to 18 months in prison for several speeches. Other DTP Members 
of Parliament are charged with violating th e Anti-terror Law and received a summons to 
appear before court.  
EN 31   EN Landmines remain a security concern for both military personnel and civilians. There were 
casualties among civilians and security forc es caused by explosions of anti-personnel 
landmines. Under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Thei r Destruction (the ‘O ttawa Convention’), 
Turkey has undertaken to destroy all anti-personnel mines in mine d areas as soon  as possible, 
but not later than 1 March 2014. 
No steps have been taken to abolish the system of village guards. There have been reports of 
human rights violations by village guards duri ng their fight against terrorism. There were 
reports that new village guards were recr uited during the local election campaign.  
Overall , despite continuing terrorist  violence, the government has opened a wide-ranging 
public debate -covering cultural, political and ec onomic matters- on the Kurdish issue. It is 
crucial that this debate be followed by concre te measures. The Law on the de-mining of the 
Syrian Border is another positive step. Howe ver, the broad interpre tation of anti-terror 
legislation has resulted in undue restrictions on the exercise of fundamental rights. The village 
guard system still needs to be phased out. 
Refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) 
The process of compensation of losses due to  terrorism and the fight against terrorism 
continued to make progress. So far, about 50% of the total numb er of received applications 
(361 000) have been processed and completed. Of these, about two third have been accepted. Due to lack of resources and the heavy work load of the Damage Assessment Commissions, 
progress on assessment and payment of compensation has been slow. 
The situation of IDPs in urban areas remains a cause for concern. IDPs suffer from economic 
and social marginalisation and have little or  no access to social, educational and health 
services. The return of IDPs is prevented by a number of factors, ma inly the poor security 
situation and existing land mines, lack of basi c infrastructure and of capital, limited job 
opportunities and the threat posed by the village guard system. 
The government’s efforts to establish a nationa l strategy to address th e situation of IDPs, 
based on a pilot action plan for th e Van district, have yet to be finalised. In this context, the 
insufficient institutional capacity of the department  responsible for IDPs in the Ministry of the 
Interior remains a challenge. There is a n eed to involve civil society further in the 
development of IDP policies. 
Asylum-seekers face a range of limitations on thei r access to procedural rights in detention. 
Key priorities in the field of asylum remain  fair, equal and consistent access to asylum 
procedures for everyone (including in airport tr ansit areas), access to legal aid and to UNHCR 
staff, reduction of the waiting time for asylum pr ocedures and access to judicial review of 
decisions. Lack of access to asylum procedures has led to instances of illegal deportation or 
refusal of entry. 
Overall , compensation of internally  displaced persons (IDPs) has continued. However, the 
government lacks an over all national strate gy to address the IDP issu e and needs to step up 
efforts to address IDPs' needs. 
2.3. Regional issues and international obligations 
Cyprus 
EN 32   EN Turkey continued to express public support for fully fledged negotiations between the leaders 
of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities under the good offices of the UN 
Secretary-General aimed at a fair, comprehe nsive and viable settlement of the Cyprus 
problem within the UN framework, in accordan ce with the relevant UN Security Council 
resolutions and in line with the principles on which the Union is founded. However, as 
underlined by the Council conclusions of 8 D ecember 2008, and in line with the negotiating 
framework, Turkey is expected to support ac tively the ongoing negotiations and to take 
practical steps to contribute to creating a cl imate favourable to a fair, comprehensive and 
viable settlement of the C yprus problem within the UN fr amework, in accordance with the 
relevant UN SC resolutions and in line with the principles on which the Union is founded. 
The EU will continue to follow up and revi ew progress made on issues covered by the 
Declaration of 21 September 2005, in accord ance with the Council Conclusions of 11 
December 2006. 
Since the Council's decision of December 2006, Turkey has made no progress towards fully 
implementing the Additional Protocol to the As sociation Agreement and has kept its ports 
closed to vessels from the Republic of  Cyprus despite se veral calls by the EU36. As pointed 
out by the December 2008 Council conclusions it is now urgent that Turkey fulfils its 
obligation to ensure full, non-discriminatory implementation of the Additional Protocol.  
Turkey has made no progress on normalising bila teral relations with the Republic of Cyprus. 
It continues to veto Cyprus’s membership of several international organisations and 
arrangements such as the Wassenaar Agreem ent on the Code of Conduct on Arms Exports 
and on Dual-Use Goods. Civilian  vessels prospecting for oil on behalf of the Republic of 
Cyprus were hindered by the Turkish navy on several occasions during the reporting period. 
Peaceful settlement of border disputes 
Turkey and Greece have continued their efforts to improve their bilateral relations. The 41st 
round of exploratory talks was held in D ecember 2008 in Istanbul. Progress, however, has 
been limited. Exploratory talks have been continuing since 2002. 
The threat of casus belli  in response to the possible extensi on of Greek territorial waters made 
in the resolution adopted by the Turkish Gran d National Assembly in 1995 still remains. 
According to the Council conclusions of  December 2008, ‘Turkey needs to commit 
unequivocally to good neighbourly relations and to the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with the United Nations Charter, havi ng recourse, if necessary, to the International 
Court of Justice. In this context, the Union ur ges the avoidance of any kind of threat, source 
of friction or action which could damage good neighbourly relations and the peaceful 
settlement of disputes.’ 
A considerable number of formal complaints were made by Greece about continued violations 
of its airspace by Turkey, incl uding flights over Greek islands. 
Regional cooperation 
                                                
 
36 Declaration of 21 September 2005 by the EC, Council Conclusions of December 2006, 2007 and 2008. 
EN 33   EN Turkey remains actively involved in regional in itiatives, including the South-East European 
Cooperation Process (SEECP) and the Regiona l Cooperation Council (RCC). Since June 2009 
Turkey has been holding the one-year rotating SEECP Chairmanship. 
Bilateral relations with other enlargemen t countries and other neighbouring Member 
States  have been  developing positively. Turkey continues to play a positive role in the 
Western Balkans . Relations with Bulgaria  remained positive. 
As regards the International Criminal Court (ICC) , see Chapter 31 – Common Foreign and 
Security Policy.   
3. ECONOMIC CRITERIA  
In examining the economic developments in Turkey, the Commission’s approach was guided 
by the conclusions of the Eur opean Council in Copenhagen in June 1993, which stated that 
membership of the Union requires the existe nce of a functioning market economy and the 
capacity to cope with competitive pressure  and market forces within the Union. 
3.1. The existence of a functioning market economy 
Economic policy essentials The government submitted both the Pre-accession Economic Programme (PEP, 2009-2011) 
and the Medium-Term Plan (MTP, 2010-2012) af ter a delay of several months, thus 
maintaining the fiscal path uncertain. The government’s MTP, which was announced in mid-
September 2009, has taken into consideration both the current global crisis conditions and the 
improvements that are yet to come. The effectiveness of the various stimulus packages 
introduced in late 2008 and the fi rst half of 2009 could benefit fr om a stronger fiscal anchor, a 
more credible framework and better communicati on and coordination. This will be even more 
important when growth resumes, and Turkey n eeds to present a credible and timely exit 
strategy from the current fiscal stimulus. Overall , under challenging circumstances consensus 
on economic policy essentials has been preser ved; however, confidence in the government’s 
economic policy stance could benefit from be tter planning, coordina tion and communication. 
Macroeconomic stability 
The negative effects of the global crisis on Turk ey have gradually become evident. However, 
almost all economic indicators as of mid-20 09 show that the economic contraction is 
bottoming out after it peaked in the first qua rter of 2009. In 2008, the Turkish economy grew 
by 0.9% year-on-year, down from 4.7% in 2007. Th e contraction was partic ularly sharp in the 
last quarter of 2008 and in th e first quarter of 2009, as GDP shrank by respectively 6.5% and 
14.3% year-on-year. The pace of decline slowed sharply in the second quarter of 2009, to 7% 
year-on-year, and consequently the economy contra cted by 10.6% in the ye ar to the first half 
of 2009. The crisis affected adversely almost  all sectors of the economy. The industry was 
particularly hit by a la rge fall in domestic a nd mainly in external demand, including for cars 
and electrical appliances. The dow nward trend in industrial production began to slow down as 
of March 2009 . Consumer and business confidence, as we ll as capacity utilisation in industry 
started to show some positive signals since th e end of the first quarter. On the demand side,  
private consumption and particular ly private investment were affected severely by the crisis. 
In 2008, private consumption rose by a meagre 0.3% year-on-year, while private investment 
fell by 4% year-on-year. In the first half of  2009, the slowdown in investment accelerated 
EN 34   EN sharply, and private investment fell by as mu ch as 32.5%. Public consumption was supported 
by the fiscal stimulus packages and rose from 1.9% in 2008 to 2.7% in the first half of 2009. Private consumption started to respond to the fi scal expansion as it recovered strongly in the 
second quarter of 2009 and declin ed by 1.2% year-on-year compar ed with a 10.2% fall in the 
first quarter. Exports fell by 10.6% in the first half of 2009 following a 2.3% rise in 2008. 
Imports fell further, from -3.8% in 2008 to -25.9% year-on-year in the first half of this year. 
Stocks showed a sharp deplet ion and fell by 5% in the ye ar to the first half of 2009. Overall , 
following the outbreak of the gl obal economic crisis the Turk ish economy has contracted 
sharply, in particular in the fi rst semester of 2009, as a result of a combined and severe drop 
in domestic and mainly in external demand. 
The current account went through a major adjustment  as a result of a sh arp drop in energy 
prices and very weak imports, due to lower domestic demand. Once cons idered as the main 
risk to the economy, given the implicit high fina ncing needs, the current account deficit has 
become less of a concern. In the year to July  2009 the current account deficit stood at about 
1.5% of GDP, and shows an improvement of so me €18 billion from the level of €23 billion in 
the year to July 2008. However, a continuation of the recent increase in oil prices in US dollar 
terms may put pressure on the cu rrent account in the coming mont hs. In spite of the fall in 
global liquidity, Turkey continued to have sufficient access to international capital markets, 
and was able to comfortably service its exte rnal obligations. Duri ng the reporting period, 
portfolio inflows virtually dried up and FD I was almost halved although they remained 
sizeable at roughly 1% of GDP. Despite the d ecline in economic activity rollover ratios of 
private sector external debt remained satisfact ory and outperformed all ma rket expectations in 
the year to September 2009. Furthermore, net e rrors and omissions, which is the balancing 
item of the balance of payments that is trad itionally used for unacc ounted flows in foreign 
currency, reached a cumulative €10 billion and cove red a large part of th e external financing 
needs. These errors and omissions apparently mainly reflect capital repatriation by residents, 
which was facilitated by a la w adopted by the Turkish g overnment at the end of 2008. 
Turkey’s external debt declined by about 5% in  nominal terms from th e last quarter of 2008 
until the first quarter of 2009 and currently amo unts to about 40% of GDP. Private external 
debt represents two thirds of the total debt and is also on a declin ing trend. International 
reserves  fell by about 5% to €50 billion, and still cover about 5 months of imports. Overall , 
external imbalances were reduced significantl y, and access to external finance remained open 
for both the public and private sectors. 
Due to the economic slowdown, the unemployment rate rose sharply from about 9.5% in mid-
2008 to 13% by mid-2009. Unemployment was mu ch higher among the young (about 24% of 
the age group 15-24). Long-term unemployed accoun ted for more than half of job-seekers. 
The employment rate went down by about 1 pe rcentage point to about 42.5% by June 2009. 
Female employment also started to rise in 2008, but remains particularly low at less than 24% 
of total working-age population in June 2009. The agricultural sector is characterised by many 
unpaid family workers. This leads to a statisti cally lower rate of unemployment, but suggests 
large pockets of underemployment in this sect or and in the economy at large. The working 
age population is growing by about 600,000 people every year, which implies significant 
challenges to the labour market absorption capacity, in particular in the cu rrent crisis context. 
In spite of recent initiatives, job creation remains difficult partly due to labour market 
rigidities and the skills mismatch  between labour demand and supply. Overall , labour market 
conditions became increasingly challenging and th e unemployment rate increased sharply in 
tandem with the sharp contra ction in economic activity. 
EN 35   EN Annual inflation fell to 5.3% in August 2009 from 11.8% a year earlier, br oadly in line with 
the inflation targets, and partly due to lowe r energy prices and shrinking domestic demand. 
Excluding unprocessed food and energy, underlying core inflation fell to 2% by August 2009. 
In addition, the foreign exchange pass-thr ough has so far been minimal even though the 
Turkish lira depreciated consider ably – by about 15% vis-à-vis th e euro – in the first quarter 
of 2009. The Central Bank of Turkey  (CBT) maintained the formal inflation targeting regime, 
which was adopted in January 2006, and appears to better anchor infla tionary expectations 
than in previous years, largely he lped by the domestic environment. The CBT acted in a 
timely and appropriate way by eas ing the policy rate by a cumulative 950 base points to 
7.25% (in the period November 2009-September 2009) - which brought interest rates to 
unprecedented low levels - and by adding liquidity in the financial system. Credit to the 
private sector remained almost flat at around  28% of GDP, and is th erefore not seen as a 
significant threat to price stability. Overall , price stability improved significantly, despite the 
considerable depreciation of the Turkish lira, mainly because pressures stemming from energy 
inputs and previously buoyant ec onomic activity eased drastically . 
The fiscal stance was loosened significantly, and the budget deficit amounted to 2.2% of GDP 
in 2008 (ESA95, April 2009 fiscal notification), thereby missing the 2008 fiscal target by over 
1 percentage point. In the first eight months  of 2009, revenues in the central budget were 
almost flat year-on-year, and spending wa s up 21% year-on-year , as the government 
introduced various fiscal stimulus packages. Part of the stimulus measures was outright 
current spending (i.e. around the date of local elec tions) in the form of increased transfers to 
households and local administrations, while others  such as the tax relief and the investment 
schemes were better targeted at combating the crisis effects. Essentially, the tax relief 
consisted of lower or zero taxes for vehicles , white goods, furniture and IT equipment for a 
period of three months ending in June (which was subsequen tly extended until the end of 
September 2009). The cash deficit reached about 3% of the projected GDP in the period from 
January to August 2009, compared to a small surp lus in the same period of 2008. Public debt 
(ESA95 definition) which had dramatically decr eased in previous years as a result of the 
drastic fiscal consolidation pursued since the 20 01 crisis remained broadly stable at 39.5% of 
GDP in the year to December 2008, but went up by almost 10% in nominal terms in the first 
half of 2009. The budget of 2009, as a nnounced in the September 2009 medium-term 
programme, foresees a widening of the cas h deficit to 6.6% of GDP. Moreover, the 
government increased the Treasury’s bo rrowing limit by almost five times. Overall , although 
the anti-crisis measures may have cushioned the economic downturn, they could put benefits 
from previous years of fiscal consolidation an d overall medium-term fisc al sustainability at 
risk.  
Some key elements to enhance the accountabili ty, efficiency and transparency of the 
budgeting process are still lacking. In particular , the earlier announced unification of all tax 
administration functions under the Revenue Admi nistration has not been implemented. This 
unification would strengthen audit capacity and would facilitate increased use of standard 
risk-based audit techniques thereby enhanci ng transparency and pr oviding significant support 
towards reducing informality. In addition, an  off-budget fund has been  created to finance 
losses in the agriculture sector. Overall , measures to increase fiscal transparency were put on 
hold and even reversed.  
Over the past several years, Turkey had su ccessfully implemente d a strong stabilisation 
programme and the resilience of  the Turkish economy benefited from in-depth structural 
reforms in many key areas, including banking, en terprise restructuring and privatisation, 
education and energy. Although the ongoing financial crisis has severely hit the Turkish real 
EN 36   EN economy, the earlier regulatory and supervisor y reforms are paying off and a full-fledged 
financial crisis has been avoided so far. However, the lack of more solid and credible fiscal 
anchors, in combination with the spending in creases introduced since early 2009 to address 
the consequences of the crisis have increa sed uncertainty and may adversely affect the 
economic recovery. Fiscal consolidation has been  reversed due to the ongoing crisis and the 
fiscal stimulus measures.  Overall , although the current polic y mix has proven broadly 
effective in the past months, macroeconomic st ability remains vulnerabl e in the absence of 
stronger fiscal anchors. 
Interplay of market forces 
The private sector’s share of GDP remained vi rtually constant at almost 89% in mid-2009. 
The Privatisation Administration completed the tender process for the pr ivatisation of four 
regional electricity distribution networks, wher eas one of them was suspended by the Council 
of State and another one failed due to the inab ility of contractors to secure financing. No 
progress can be reported in the privatisation of state-owned banks. The total volume of 
privatisation revenue reached €4.92 billion in 2008 (about 1.5% of GDP). In the first half of 
2009, the privatisation revenue fell by about 42% and amounted to €1.6 billion. Overall , some 
progress has been made in improving the inte rplay of market forces. Privatisation has 
advanced, albeit at a slower pace due to the worsening external environment.  
Market entry and exit 
In 2008, the number of newly esta blished firms decreased by 6% . During the same period, the 
number of firms which were closed down incr eased by 40%. Market entry in banking and 
capital markets remained restricted to mergers and acquisitions as new licenses have not been 
issued. Sectoral restrictions on foreign ownership continued to exist in various areas, 
including maritime transport, civil aviation, ground handling, road  transport, radio and TV 
broadcasting, energy, accountancy and education. In the field of business environment, there 
was some improvement with regard to procedur es to start up new business. A regulation was 
also published in order to accelerate customs procedures in some areas. However, licensing 
procedures, market exit, and the efficiency of  bankruptcy proceedings are still cumbersome. 
Licensing procedures are rela tively lengthy. For example 25 diffe rent procedures are needed 
in order to build a warehouse including gettin g licences and permits, completing necessary 
notifications and inspections an d obtaining utility connections. Market exit is difficult as 
closing a business takes 3.3 years on average. The efficiency of bankr uptcy proceedings is 
low: claimants recover only 20.2% of th eir claims from insolvent firms. Overall , market entry 
has benefited from the adoption of new legislat ion, while there are still obstacles in market 
exit. Restrictions on foreign owne rship persist in some sectors. 
Legal system 
A reasonably well functioning lega l system, including in the area of property rights, has been 
in place for several years. However, real estate  acquisition by foreigners is still subject to 
some restrictions. No major progress has been  made over the last y ear. However, a draft 
Judicial Reform Strategy Action Plan has be en disclosed by the government in mid-2009 and 
sets clear priorities a bout the scope and targets of the ongoing refo rm. Registering a property 
requires six procedures and take s six days in Turkey. Enforcin g commercial contracts remains 
a lengthy process, which needs 35 procedur es and takes 420 days on average. The 
specialisation of commer cial court judges appears insuffic ient, leading to lengthy court 
proceedings. The expert witness system continue s to function as a para llel judiciary system, 
EN 37   EN without improving overall qualit y. Use of out-of-court dispute-settlement mechanisms 
remains low. Overall  the legal environment, and in partic ular court procedures, pose practical 
challenges and create obstacles to  a better business environment. 
Financial sector development 
The banking sector has shown remarkable resili ence to the global financial crisis, largely due 
to major improvements in the regulatory and su pervisory framework made in previous years. 
The financial sector's risk ratios remained r obust. The sector benefite d from the central bank’s 
liquidity measures and some easing of re gulations governing loan  classification and 
provisioning requirements. The capital adequ acy ratio stood at a solid 18% by mid-2009, 
substantially higher than the EU legal require ment of 12%. Non-performing loans increased 
marginally to about 4.9% by mid-2009 from 3.0%  a year earlier, an d stress tests by the 
regulator show that the sector is sound and adap ts well to the new challenges, in part through 
a wide-scale purchasing of debt  instruments offered by the Tr easury. The banking sector, by 
far the largest part of the fina ncial sector, increase d its share from 70% to 77%. The relative 
size of the insurance sector de creased slightly to 2.6%, about the same size as that of the 
mutual funds. Domestic private banks had a 34.5% share in total assets, whereas the share of 
foreign banks reached 37.4% taking into account foreigners’ investments in the stock exchange, which corresponds to 17.5% of banki ng sector assets. Financial intermediation 
improved in 2008, in particular in the banking s ector, but weakened subs tantially in the first 
half of 2009. Since the Istanbul Stock Excha nge fell considerably during 2008, total stock 
market capitalisation decreased from €195.3 bill ion (39.6% of GDP) to  € 84.6 billion (19.1% 
of GDP). Concentration in the banking sector rema ined broadly stable, as the share of top-five 
and top-ten banks in the banking sect or were 60% and 83%, respectively. Overall , under 
difficult crisis circumstances, the financial sect or has shown remarkable  resilience thanks to 
earlier reforms. 
3.2. The capacity to cope with competitiv e pressure and market forces within the 
Union 
Existence of a functioning market economy Macroeconomic stability has been tested and has been broadly preser ved during the reporting 
period, in spite of the harsh ec onomic recession. Financial market s stress and the absence of 
fiscal anchors added some uncertainty to th e business environment but  at the same time 
underlined the economy’s improved shock resili ence. The investment climate has been 
adversely affected by the global economic and financ ial crisis, in particular in the absence of a 
consistent and coherent medium-term policy framework. Overall , the unfolding of the crisis 
did not jeopardise the functi oning of market mechanisms and Turkey continues to be a 
functioning market economy. 
Human and physical capital  
The quality of education remains an important  problem in Turkey, although the results are 
improving. The net enrolment rate in compulsory  education (8 years) increased by almost 
10% to over 97%. The net enrolment rate in secondary education also increased, from 56% to 58%. The net enrolment rate in universities increased from 19% to 20% but remains low by international standards. Little  progress has been made in co rrecting the mismatch between 
supply and demand of skills on the labour market s, which largely stem from inadequate 
education and training.  
EN 38   EN Total investment slightly incr eased as a share of GDP from  21.5% in 2007 to  22.1% in 2008, 
but has declined significantly in the reporting period as privat e investment collapsed due to 
the crisis. On the other hand, as a result of the fiscal stimulus package, public investment has 
increased by around 25% in annual terms in the first quarter of 2009. FDI inflows held out relatively well in the first four  months of 2009 helped by priva tisation of the electricity grid 
and declined by about 40% compared to a year earlier. At the same time, their composition 
improved as more than two thirds went into utilities and manufacturi ng. The domestic savings 
rate increased from 15.6% of GDP in 2007 to 16.4% in 2008, in particular because of the 
positive impact of the change in stocks (1.8% of GDP). For many years infrastructure investment has been hampered by the need to c onsolidate public finances and the failure to 
cut lower-priority spending. Inad equate infrastructure is in creasingly affecting economic 
activity. However, in 2007 and 2008 some, al beit modest, progress can be reported for 
infrastructure, in particular in the area of roads and oil pipelines. Most importantly, the 
Nabucco intergovernmental agreement was signed in July. Nabucco is a natural gas pipeline 
project which will bring natural gas from the Caspian region and the Middle East to Turkey 
and Europe, and is of strategic importance for th e energy security of both Turkey and the EU. 
A high-speed rail line between Ankara and Eski sehir became operationa l during the reporting 
period. Implementation of the National Developm ent Plan (2007-2013), and in particular of 
the South-eastern Anatolia Project, suffered from  falling investor interest due to the current 
exceptional crisis circumstances. Overall , some progress was made in upgrading the country’s 
human and physical capital, although the economic crisis represents a new challenge to this 
process. The signature of the Nabucco natural gas intergovernmental ag reement represents an 
important economic and strategic development. 
Sectoral and enterprise structure 
The independence of regulatory and surveillance agencies has been largely preserved. Market 
liberalisation has not been adva nced in agriculture, whereas so me progress has been made in 
energy. The sectoral shift from agriculture to th e services and industry sectors appears to have 
been temporarily reversed due to the slowdown in economic activity. The share of agriculture 
in overall employment increased from  24.0% to 24.6% between December 2007 and 
December 2008. The share of services also increased from 49.5% to 50.2%. On the other hand, both the industry (from 21.0% to 19.7%) a nd construction (from 5.5% to 5.4%) sectors 
experienced a decline in  their relative shares  of total employment.   
The quality and publication freque ncy of data on small and me dium-sized enterprises (SME) 
remained poor. Various new initiatives have be en launched to improve the access of SME to 
finance. However, the share of SME in tota l banking sector loans de creased from 27.7% in 
December 2007 to 22.8% in February 2009. Informality remains widespread throughout all corporate sectors, particularly  amongst SME. Turkey adopted a comprehensive action plan to 
combat the informal economy. The authorities  approved new legislation in May 2009, which 
allows the SME support organisation KOSG EB to provide assistance not only to 
manufacturing SME but also to enterprises that are active in trade and services, while a new 
guarantee fund for SME was part of the stimulus packages and aimed at alleviating the impact 
of the current crisis on SME finances. Overall , in spite of various new initiatives by the 
Turkish government, the economic crisis is complicating the access of SME to finance and slowing down the sectoral tran sformation of the Turkish economy . 
EN 39   EN State influence on competitiveness 
There has been no tangible progre ss in the field of state aid. As  transparency in the decision 
making process remains low, it is difficult to assess the rationale and consistency of the individual decisions taken. In addition, the size of state aid and its importance in some key 
sectors increased substantially following the introduction of the various fiscal stimulus 
packages. Transparency in the corporate sector has improved and accounting standards have 
been upgraded, although the adop tion of the Commercial Code has again been postponed. The 
absence of transparent monitori ng of state aid and of supporting policies to re duce distortion 
continued to have an adverse effect on competition and competitiveness in the economy. Public procurement policies continued to be  undermined by exceptions to the regulatory 
framework. Overall , state intervention continued to l ack transparency, which may have 
negatively affected competition and competitiveness. 
Economic integration with the EU 
The openness of the Turkish economy, as measured  by the total value of exports of goods and 
services as a percentage of GDP, amounted to about 48% of GDP in 2008, almost unchanged 
from 2007. Exports to the EU rose by only 5% in 2008, whereas exports to other countries, 
mainly Turkey’s neighbours in the east and th e south, rose by 49%. Only 48% of Turkey’s 
exports went to the EU, compared to 56% a y ear earlier. Imports from the European Union 
rose by only 9% in 2008 whereas imports from other countries rose by 25%. EU share in 
Turkey’s trade varies slightly from year to  year, depending on numerous factors, including 
commodity price trends and exchange rate move ments. Nevertheless, the decline in the EU 
share in 2008 is probably related to the relativel y more drastic impact of  the global crisis on 
demand in EU markets. As a result, Turk ey became less dependent on European Union 
markets and diversified parts of its trade towa rds other neighbouring c ountries. FDI inflows to 
Turkey originating from EU member states remained very significant, and proportionally 
grew from 75% of the total in 2008 to 88% in th e first five months of 2009, thus illustrating 
the strong economic interdependen ce between the EU and Turkey. Overall , trade and 
economic integration with the EU remained hi gh. Turkey showed remarkable flexibility and 
diversified its trade towards new markets, thereby partly allevia ting the impact of the crisis.  
Based on the scant information on real wage developments, it appears that unit labour costs 
have increased broadly at a similar pace as labour productivity. Indicators of export price 
competitiveness have improved significantly as the Turkish lira weakened considerably vis-à-vis the euro and the US dollar. In the year to September 2009, the exchange rate of the lira 
depreciated by 15% against a basket  of 50% US dollar and 50% euro  in nominal terms. In real 
effective terms, corrected for both, producer and consumer price developments, the lira 
weakened by 13%. Overall , Turkey made significant gains to price and cost competitiveness 
vis-à-vis its main trading partners. 
4. A
BILITY TO ASSUME THE OBLIGATIONS OF MEMBERSHIP  
This section examines Turkey’s ability to assume  the obligations of membership – that is, the 
acquis as expressed in the Treaties, the secondary le gislation, and the policies of the Union. It 
also analyses Turkey’s administrative capacity to implement the acquis . The analysis is 
structured in accordance with the list of 33 acquis chapters . In each sector, Commission's 
assessment covers progress achieved during the reporting period, and summarises the 
country's overall level of preparations. 
EN 40   EN 4.1. Chapter 1: Free movement of goods 
Limited progress can be reported towards alignment on general principles . The legislation on 
standardisation in foreign trade, adopted in 200 9, further reduced the list of items subject to 
conformity assessment upon import. However, the new legislation introduced without any 
prior notification restrictions on goods from third countries in free circulation in the EU and 
created barriers to trade. Such  goods are subject to conformity  assessment procedures based 
on documentation, and if necessary on physical checks at the customs, thus delaying and 
sometimes inhibiting access to the Turkish market. 
Technical barriers to trade persis t, both in the old approach area, such as on pharmaceuticals, 
chemicals, foodstuffs and textil es, and in the non-harmonised ar ea, since Turkey has yet to 
introduce the mutual recognition principle into its legal order. Licences remain necessary for goods considered old, renovated or faulty and for second-hand motor vehicles. Licences are 
sometimes refused without justif ication. This creates a de-facto ban of im ports of these goods 
which violates the EU-Turkey Customs Union.  
In the case of horizontal measures , some progress can be reported. On standardisation , 
adoption of European standards by the Turkish Standards Institute (TSE) has continued. So far the TSE has adopted a total of 15,406 st andards of the European Committee for 
Standardisation (CEN) and the European Co mmittee for Electrotechnical Standardisation 
(CENELEC). It has also adopted 350 standa rds of the European Telecommunication 
Standards Institute (ETSI). The overall rate of harmonisation with European standards rose to 
98.79% from 97.4% last year. The TSE is runn ing 86 operational committees. However, the 
revised law reflecting the ne w structure of the TSE mee ting the requirements for full 
membership of CEN/CENELEC has not yet been adopted. 
As regards conformity assessment , further progress was made on notified bodies. Turkey now 
has twelve notified bodies, co mpared with six in 2008, cove ring lifts, appliances burning 
gaseous fuels, construction products (cement), pressure vessels, recr eational craft, toys, 
personal protective equipment and machinery. 
Some progress can be reported on accreditation . TURKAK (the Turkish Accreditation 
Agency) is a member of European Accreditat ion Cooperation (EA) and a signatory of seven 
EA multilateral agreements. It is also a member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and has a mutual recognition agreemen t with International Laboratory Accreditation 
Cooperation (ILAC). The number of TURKAK accreditations rose to 397, a significant 
increase of 61% since last year. TURKAK is the authority  for monitoring good laboratory 
practice. The revised law aiming at furthe r harmonising TURKAK’s structure with the 
European accreditation system has not yet been adopted. 
Some progress can be reported in the area of legal metrology . For instruments outside the 
scope of the measuring instruments regulation, legislation on the type-approval of measures 
and measuring instruments was issued. The bod y for implementing the instruments regulation 
is not yet in place. 
Limited progress can be reported on market surveillance.  A common method for accurate and 
consistent data gathering is not yet in place. Considering the size of the country, higher operational budgets and more extensive survei llance activities are required, taking into 
account risk analysis. The visibility of surve illance actions remains low. Continuous training 
is needed, including on the lega l aspects of surveillance actions  and on the testing of a number 
of product categories. Coordination between the central and local offices of individual 
EN 41   EN surveillance agencies often remains problema tic. Coordination between agencies is also 
insufficient, notably as regards databases. 
Overall, alignment of horizontal measures is ad vanced. However, further efforts are needed to 
ensure effective market surveillance and additional alignment on standardisation and accreditation. 
Further progress was made with regard to the old approach  acquis . Further alignment was 
achieved in the areas of motor vehicles and emissions from motor ve hicles, licensing and 
pricing of pharmaceuticals, pre-packaging a nd labelling of pharmaceuticals for human use, 
packaging waste, dangerous substances and the inventory of chemicals and cosmetics. 
However, Turkey has not addressed the prob lem of regulatory data protection and the 
authorisation system for generic medicines fo r which marketing authorisation was applied 
before 1 January 2005. Despite maintaining a moratorium on so-called pending generics 
applications
37, Turkey's rules, including the amende d regulation on the lic ensing of medicinal 
products for human use, adopted in April 2009, have  not provided legal certainty with regard 
to regulatory data exclusivity. Turkey is viola ting Customs Union obligations in this area. The 
control certificate and obligatory sampling requirements imposed by the Ministry of 
Agriculture on imported alcoholic beverages remain in force. Alignment with the old approach acquis  is advanced, but further efforts are needed to complete it. 
Limited progress has been made on the new approach  product legislation , as alignment in 
this area was already advanced. The Minist ry of Industry and Trade adopted measures 
transposing the revised Machinery Directive,  which will enter into force in December 2009, 
and amended its electromagnetic compatibility re gulation. The ministry issued a regulation on 
maintenance and operation of lifts. The In formation and Communication Technologies 
Authority (ex-Telecommunications Authority) issued an amending regulation on radio and 
telecommunication terminal equi pment and a communiqué regardi ng publication of technical 
characteristics for interfaces. Harmonised standards on the same subject were also published. The Ministry of Health updated technical speci fications on toys containing magnets and the 
Ministry of Public Works and Settlement updated technical specifications on construction 
products. 
Regarding procedural measures,  no progress can be reported.  
The Under-Secretariat of Foreign Trade has be en applying Regulation 339/93/EC in practice, 
by means of communiqués, even though it has not yet been transposed into Turkey’s national 
legislation.  
There has been no progress in the non-harmonised area . The mutual recognition principle 
has yet to be introduced into the Turkish trade regulations. The Ministry of Public Works and Settlement issued a regulation in June 2009 on cr iteria for affixing the G mark applying to 
construction products in the non-harmonised ar ea, already introduced in the legislation 
adopted in December 2006. As of 1 July 2010, all construction products that are in the non-
harmonised area such as pipes, door coverings, sock ets etc. will have to enter Turkey with the 
G mark affixed next to any probable nationa l markings. Products coming from the EU are 
subject to the same requirement. Products origin ating from third countries, including those put 
into free circulation in the EU and re-exported to Turke y, would need to go through 
                                                
 
37 Generic applications submitted until 1 January 2005  and referring to original reference products 
registered in the Customs Union during the period from 1 January 2001 to 1 January 2005. 
EN 42   EN conformity assessment checks in Turkey. The Turkish G mark introduces a new technical 
barrier to trade which is contrary  to the Customs Union provisions. 
‘Free movement of goods’ is one of the eight chapters covered by the conclusions on Turkey 
adopted by the Council (General Affairs and External Relations) on 11 December 2006 and 
endorsed by the European Council on 14/15 Dece mber 2006. As long as restrictions remain in 
place on the free movement of goods carried by ve ssels and aircraft regi stered in Cyprus or 
whose last port of call was in Cyprus, Turkey wi ll not be in a position fully to implement the 
acquis  relating to this chapter. 
Conclusion 
Limited progress can be reported in  this chapter. Legislative a lignment is quite advanced, but 
further efforts are required in a number of areas. Moreover, trade has been increasingly hampered by technical barriers related to conformity assessment and standardisation. 
Significant shortcomings exist in  market surveillance, includi ng in inter-agency cooperation. 
Turkey needs fully to implement Decision 1/95 in the area of free mo vement of goods, in 
particular by abolishing the remaining import li cences and the restrictio ns on imports of used 
motor vehicles, by introducing the mutual reco gnition principle into its national legislation 
and by harmonising the data protection pr ovisions for pharmaceutical products. 
4.2. Chapter 2: Freedom of movement for workers 
With regard to access to the labour market , the legislation on work permits for foreigners 
has been pending in parliament since 2007, after former President Sezer vetoed the law.  
Turkey is not yet ready to participate in the  EURES  (European employment services) 
network due to the weak IT infrastructure and electronic job-matching services of the Turkish 
Employment Agency ( İŞKUR). 
Some progress has been made with coordination of soci al security systems . The social 
security institution continued to improve its knowledge on and capacity  for coordination of 
social security systems, with the aid of EU-funded projects.  
There are no developments as regards the European health insurance card.   
Conclusion 
Little progress has been made in  the area of freedo m of movement for workers. Alignment is 
at an early stage. 
4.3. Chapter 3: Right of establishment and freedom to provide services 
Limited progress can be reported on the right of establishment and freedom to provide 
services. 
No developments can be reported in connection with the right of establishment . The detailed 
alignment strategy required by the Accession Partnership has not  yet been prepared. Firms 
already established in a Member State are still subject to registration, li cence or authorisation 
requirements. Other requirements incompatible with the acquis  are still in place, such as 
gender, nationality, residence and dispropor tionate language requirements along with the 
‘one-office’ rule for pharmacists.  
EN 43   EN There have been no new developments as regards freedom to provide cross-border services . 
Registration, licence or authorisation requirements incompatible with the acquis  still exist. 
Service-providers already established in a Memb er State are subject to such requirements 
before they can obtain work and residence permits . No steps have been taken to align with the 
Services Directive. A new regulation has introduced a nationality requirement for environmental engineers combined with compul sory membership of the Union of Chambers 
of Engineers and Architects, wh ich is not in line with the acquis . 
Obstacles to exercising the right of establishm ent and freedom to prov ide services have not 
been identified and no structure for identifying such obstacles has been set up. Alignment in the areas of establishment and se rvices is at an early stage. 
No progress can be reported on postal services . A draft Postal Law, prepared in 2006 and 
amended recently, has not yet been adopted. Th e existing legal monopoly (reserved service, 
irrespective of weight limits) has not been phased out and no i ndependent regulatory authority 
has been set up. 
In the absence of appropriate accounting methods for reserved and non-reserved services and 
of separation of accounts, the acco unting system lacks transparency.  
No progress can be reported on mutual recognition of professional qualifications and its 
differentiation from the recognition of academic qualifications . The current administrative 
structures allow the recogniti on of academic qualifications onl y. Reciprocal recognition still 
applies to a number of regulated professions . Nationality and language requirements persist. 
A new regulation subjects the provision of consul tancy services by geophysical engineers to a 
nationality requirement. Similarly, another re gulation prevents chemical engineers from 
providing services to public aut horities and courts unless they are Turkish citizens. A contact 
point for implementation of Directive 2005 /36/EC on the recognition of professional 
qualifications has ye t to be designated. 
No progress can be reported with implementatio n of the directives on lawyers, toxic products 
and commercial agents. 
‘The right of establishment and freedom to pr ovide services’ is one of the eight chapters 
covered by the conclusions on Turkey adopted by  the Council (General Affairs and External 
Relations) on 11 December 2006 and endorsed by the European Council on 14/15 December 2006. As long as restrictions remain in pl ace on the free movement of goods carried by 
vessels and aircraft registered in  Cyprus or whose last  port of call was in Cyprus, Turkey will 
not be in a position fully to implement the acquis relating to this chapter. 
Conclusion 
Overall, in the areas of services and establishmen t, alignment is at an early stage. No progress 
has been recorded in the field of postal se rvices, nor on mutual r ecognition of professional 
qualifications. 
4.4. Chapter 4: Free movement of capital 
Some progress can be reported in capital movements and payments . The Council of 
Ministers amended the communiqué on protectio n of the Turkish lira  and abolished the 
requirements for the Central Bank to identify  convertible currenci es and to regulate 
transactions in such currencies. This amendmen t has made it possible for financial institutions 
EN 44   EN to perform foreign exchange transactions a nd to open deposit accounts in all currencies, 
which was not the case before for some Me mber States’ currencies. Further relaxation 
followed in July 2008, this time as regard s the rules on credit related to commercial 
transactions. In January 2009 measures were taken to ease the domestic asset-holding 
requirements applicable to the t echnical reserves of insurance companies. Turkey amended its 
legislation on foreign currency loans. As a re sult, companies are now allowed to take out 
foreign exchange loans with local banks w ithout any restriction on maturity or amount. 
However, Turkey abolished the right of natura l persons to conclude foreign-exchange-indexed 
loans.  
The Turkish legislation in the field of real  estate acquisition by foreigners remains 
inconsistent with Article 56 of the Treaty es tablishing the Europ ean Community. Turkey 
adopted a new implementing regulation which introduced discriminatory measures and 
additional restrictions on acquisition of real estate by companies established in Turkey with foreign capital. There was no progress on real es tate acquisition by foreign physical and legal 
persons (established in other countries). Fo llowing the opening of this chapter in the 
negotiations, Turkey has yet to present an acti on plan for gradual libe ralisation of acquisition 
of real estate by foreigners in line with the acquis  or to demonstrate that it has made 
significant progress towards gradual liberalis ation, two key components for the accession 
negotiations on this chapter. 
There has been no progress towards removing restri ctions affecting foreign direct investment 
originating from the EU, as provided for in th e Accession Partnership. Sectoral investment 
restrictions are s till in place, such as on radio and TV broadcasting, energy,  transport and 
education. Little progress can be reported on  the Accession Partnership priority requiring 
Turkey further to align its payment systems  legislation with the acquis . The Central Bank 
adopted an implementing regulation which requi res banks to use IBAN  (international bank 
account numbers) for both national payments in  Turkish lira and cro ss-border transfers in 
euros to accounts in the European Economic Area.  
Progress in the fight against money-laundering  remains uneven. During the reporting period 
Turkey moved ahead with alig ning its legislation with the acquis and with the 
recommendations made by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The Turkish authorities 
prepared an action plan to tighten up enforcem ent of the Law on the Pr evention of Laundering 
Proceeds of Crime and adopted a number of re gulations to implement this law. Turkey 
introduced a requirement to establish comp liance programmes for banks, capital market 
brokerages, postal services, insurers and pension companies. Further implementing 
regulations have been introduced covering type s of suspicious transactions and customer 
identification. The Financial Cr imes Investigation Board (MASAK) issued supplementary 
guidelines. In February 2009 Turkey submitted to  the FATF its first follow-up report after 
adoption of the FATF’s third -round mutual evaluation repo rt (MER) in 2007. This report 
describes the measures taken by Turkey to address the deficiencies identified in the MER. 
Turkey signed memoranda of understanding on exchange of information with five more 
countries (Albania, the former Yugoslav Re public of Macedonia, Georgia, Romania and 
Syria). 
The November 2008 Law on the Recovery of Cert ain Assets to the National Economy applied 
until 30 September 2009. This law caught the atten tion of the FATF, because of concerns that 
it might undermine existing measures to co unter money-laundering and financing of 
terrorism. Turkey needs to introduce furthe r measures to prevent money-laundering and 
financing of terrorism as a result of transactions under this law.  
EN 45   EN Turkey made some, albeit uneven, progress with regard to its administrative capacity to 
implement and enforce properly the relevant le gislation in all areas related to anti-money-
laundering. The number of suspicious tran sactions reported to MASAK has increased 
considerably, from 2,946 in 2007 to 4,924 in 2008. Most of the reports stem from the banking 
sector, which remains the main source of money-laundering, although the non-banking sector 
is also important. As for the financing of te rrorism, 228 suspicious tran sactions were reported 
in 2008, compared with 144 in 2007. Prosecutions were sought in 42 cases (43 in 2007), of which 34 were brought before courts (22 in  2007). MASAK issued guidelines for banks, 
capital market brokerages, insurers and pe nsion companies on compliance with their 
obligations. MASAK also published guidelines fo r non-profit organisations on prevention of 
terrorist financing. 
MASAK continues to organise training for examiners, judges, prosecutors and obliged 
parties. Further efforts are needed to improve  the anti-money-laundering skills of the judiciary 
and law enforcement bodies and the mechanisms to combat financing of terrorism. Turkey 
has signed, but not yet ratified, the Council of  Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, 
Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from  Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism 
(CETS 198). 
Conclusion 
Overall, there has been some progress on free movement of capital. Turkey submitted to the 
Commission action plans on capi tal movements and payments  and on anti-money-laundering 
which led to opening of this chapter of  the negotiations. Turkey made progress on 
liberalisation of its insurance legisl ation. However, alignment with the acquis  on capital 
movements and payments remains limited. There are still obstacles to acquisition of real 
estate by foreigners and a new implementing re gulation has placed additional discriminatory 
restrictions on foreign capital comp anies. Sectoral restrictions ar e still affecting foreign direct 
investment from the EU. Progress was uneven on measures to counter money-laundering and 
financing of terrorism, where Turkey’s admini strative and enforcement capacity is not up to 
the required level yet. 
4.5. Chapter 5: Public procurement 
There has been no progress on the general principles  of public procurement. The 15% price 
advantage for domestic bidders remains in the legislation and was strengthened by a Prime 
Ministry circular issued in December 2008 whic h encouraged procuring entities to grant this 
advantage to tenderers offering Turkish goods an d services. In 2008 the advantage clause was 
used in 10% of all tenders and 15% of tenders  open to foreign bidders. Following the circular, 
this increased to 13.7% of  all tenders in the first quarter of  2009 worth €1 billion, a substantial 
increase in financial terms. 
A number of additional derogations from th e Public Procurement Law (PPL) concerning 
goods and services for public institutions have been adopted and all purchases for research 
and development projects are exempted from the law. The Public Procurement Authority 
published a report indicating that procurement under such exclusions increased by 31.8% in 
2008. The value of procurements covered by exclus ions more than doubled in the first quarter 
of 2009 and  state undertakings’ monopolies for supplyi ng certain goods and services were 
confirmed. 
Limited progress has been made on the award of public contracts . Information on public 
tenders is widely available, including on the internet, ensuring a high response. A legislative 
EN 46   EN amendment in 2008 introdu ced the concepts of electronic auction, dynam ic purchasing system 
and prior notice and extended th e scope of framework agreements, as recommended by the 
EU directives. The amendment was followed by implementing regulations in March 2009. 
However, Turkey’s public procurement legislation is still not in line with the acquis in 
various respects. Utilities continue to be subject to the classical public procurement 
procedures without covering the pr ivate sector enjoying special or exclusive rights. There is 
no coherent legal framework for the award of concessions and public-private partnerships, 
although comprehensive draft laws were presente d and discussed more than two years ago on 
these areas. The 2009 thresholds and financial lim its for procurement remain above EC levels. 
An alignment strategy on public procurement has not yet been submitted. 
Good progress can be reported regarding administrative capacity . The Public Procurement 
Authority and the State Planni ng Organisation have adequate administrative capacity. Some 
institutional changes are curr ently underway. The Public Proc urement Authority (PPA) has 
been reorganised to separate it s advisory and review functions , to increase its independence 
and to reduce the risk of conflicts of interest. The Ministry of Finance has been appointed to 
steer public procurement policy and ensure its co herence, despite being short-staffed. A legal 
provision now confirms this res ponsibility for formulation proc urement policies and ensuring 
coordination among state institutions in drafting related laws, thus meeting a key requirement 
of the accession negotiations.  
As regards other stakeholders (contractin g entities and economic operators), market 
functionality and competitiveness are satisfactory in most sectors. 
Limited progress can be reported on alignment with the Remedies Directives. The 
amendment in 2008 marked the start of a standstil l to facilitate operati on of the complaints 
mechanism. However, contrary to EC case law,  the amendment ruled out the possibility of 
appealing against tende rs annulled by the procuring entity.  
Conclusion 
Some progress can be reported in th is chapter, in particular with  regards to the attribution of 
administrative responsibilities and alignment with the Remedies Directives. Some contracting 
authorities indicate good procurement practices . However, implementation needs to be 
enhanced. The comprehensive strategy for the reforms necessary to ensure legislative 
alignment and institutional cap acity-building is s till outstanding. Minor improvements have 
been made to the legislation. The increasin g number of derogations from the general 
provisions and of domestic pref erences are moving Turkey away from the acquis, thus 
reducing competition and effici ency in public tenders.  
4.6. Chapter 6: Company law 
Little progress can be reported on company law . The Turkish Commercial Code (TCC) and 
the Law on the Entry into Force and Implem entation of the TCC have been pending in 
parliament for almost three years. Without adop tion of the TCC, electronic disclosure of and 
access to company information is not possible,  nor is electronic co mpany registration 
operational. Adoption of other dr aft laws, including amendments to the Capital Markets Law 
concerning domestic mergers an d divisions of public limited liability companies, the  exercise 
of certain rights of shareholders  in publicly held companies and  takeover bids,  is contingent 
on the entry into force of the TCC.  
EN 47   EN Little progress can be reported in the area of corporate accounting. The Turkish Accounting 
Standards Board (TASB) published several inte rpretations and revisions of a number of 
international accounting standards (IAS). The st andards adopted apply to listed companies. 
The Capital Markets Board of Turkey imposes an obligation on listed companies to publish 
their yearly and quarterly financial statem ents in compliance with the IAS and the 
international financial reporting standards in the format appli cable in the EU. The obligation 
applies only to listed companies. The major ity of companies in Turkey are, however, non-
listed. 
The Banking Regulation and Supervision Ag ency adopted an updated circular on the 
consolidated financial tabl es for banking in order to align them with the EU acquis . In 
accordance with the circular, the financial tables of all subsidiaries, whether financial or not, 
will be presented in the parent bank’s consolidated financial table.  
The TASB has recruited five junior accoun ting standards experts. Nevertheless, its 
administrative capacity remains weak.  
No progress can be reported on auditing . The regulatory framework is still being prepared. A 
public oversight body for statutory auditors a nd audit firms has yet to be established. 
Conclusion 
Overall, no substantial progress can be noted in the reporting period. The new TCC has not 
yet been adopted.  
4.7. Chapter 7: Intellectual property law 
Little progress has been made in the area of copyright and neighbouring rights . The 
Directorate-General for Copyright s (DGCC) in the Ministry of  Culture and Tourism (MoCT) 
conducted an inspection of the collecting soci eties. Following the si gning of a cooperation 
protocol between four collecting societies in the music sector, licensing agreements have been 
signed with hotels and broadcasters. Coordina tion and cooperation between the IPR-related 
bodies has further improved. Piracy of books a nd other media, such as CDs and DVDs, as 
well as copyright and related ri ghts infringements of non-tang ible goods remains widespread. 
Turkey’s enforcement capacity is still lagging behind.  
Some progress can be reported concer ning the legislative framework for industrial property 
rights . The Turkish Patent Institut e (TPI) published several amen dments to the regulations 
implementing the legislation on patents, geogra phical indications and industrial designs to 
follow up studies led by the Prime Ministry on administrative simplification and reduction of 
bureaucracy.  
Several members of the TPI staff have receiv ed specialised training on language and legal 
issues. No constructive dialogue  could be established between  the TPI and IPR holders and 
their representatives. Issues linked to bad faith  and similar trademarks and industrial design 
remain unresolved. 
The Ministry of Health published an amending regulation on the licensing of pharmaceuticals 
for human use in April 2009. The regulation does not contribute to providing legal certainty 
on the issue of regulatory data exclusivity, because it codifies the requirements for 
combination products in a way which is not in line with the acquis  on fixed combinations. 
The new regulation increases the number of documents that need to be submitted with the 
EN 48   EN application for market authoris ation and makes market author isation more cumbersome. In 
general, the regulation increases the margin of discretion of the Ministry of Health when it 
comes to issuing the market authorisa tion and regulatory data exclusivity.  
As regards enforcement , the high-level Intellectual a nd Industrial Propert y Coordination 
Board, co-chaired by the Ministry  of Industry and Trade and th e Ministry of Culture, met 
twice, in November 2008 and February 2009. It s purpose is to fost er cooperation between 
relevant institutions in order to improve the le vel of IPR protection. Ho wever, the IPR-holders 
were not appropriately represented at the m eetings. The Turkish police force, the body in 
charge of IPR enforcement, conducted succe ssful operations to fight piracy during the 
reporting period. However, piracy  and counterfeiting remain major challenges. The fact that 
enforcement bodies do not have the authority to conduct ex-officio  investigations in the area 
of industrial property rights - cu rrently proceedings are initiated  solely upon complaint - is a 
serious weakness. Border controls are weak, in particular with regard to ex-officio  seizures. 
The Turkish government needs to step up its effo rts to address this i ssue in cooperation with 
the IPR society.  
In July 2008 the Turkish Constitutional Cour t annulled the criminal provisions of the 
trademarks decree, pointing ou t that trademarks infringements could not be punished under 
the existing legislation. The reason behind th is court decision was that only parliamentary 
laws – not decrees – can regulate crimes a nd punishments. To fill the legal vacuum, the 
parliament adopted in January 2009 a new law proposed by the government.  
However, due to the time which it took to adopt the new law and the ensuing gap in the 
legislation, around 3,357 accused were acquitted in 2,861 counterfeiting cases before the 
specialised IPR criminal cour ts in Ankara, Istanbul and Iz mir alone. Such legal vacuum 
constitutes a breach of article 61 of the Agr eement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual 
Property Rights (TRIPs) which requires WTO members to adopt criminal enforcement 
provisions at least for case s of trademark violations. 
The above-mentioned gap in criminal sanctions  for IPR crimes also affected criminal 
enforcement of other industrial property righ ts, like patents, industrial designs and 
geographical indications, which has been seri ously weakened in Turkey. Sanctions for 
infringements of the above IPR were applicable only until 31 December 2008. As a 
consequence, since 1 January 2009, the courts have been granting acquittals. The new draft 
laws regulating criminal sanctions for infrin gements of patents, industrial designs and 
geographical indications were s ubmitted to the parliament in April 2009 and are still pending 
there. 
So far Turkey has shown no willingness to m ove towards establishing a dialogue on IPR 
proposed by the Commission in April 2008. Esta blishment of an IPR dialogue with the 
Commission and successful engageme nt of Turkey in it is one of the benchmarks for closing 
this chapter of the accession negotiations. 
Conclusion 
Overall, alignment with the acquis is relatively advanced. C oordination and cooperation 
between the IPR-related public bodies and th eir specialisation have improved. However, 
enforcement remains insufficient. Adoption of the aligned and updated laws regulating 
intellectual and industrial propert y rights, including criminal sa nctions, is crucial. Serious 
deficiencies persist in industr ial property rights, in partic ular with implementation and 
EN 49   EN enforcement. Turkey needs to address these in close cooperation with the IPR-holders. 
Engaging in an IPR dialogue, as sugg ested by the Commission, is crucial. 
4.8. Chapter 8: Competition Policy 
Turkey made further progress in the field of anti-trust . In the case of Stat e aid little progress 
can be reported.  
In February 2009 the Competition Authority adopt ed legislation on fines for cartels and on 
immunity from and reduction of fines in carte l cases where undertakings cooperate with the 
Competition Authority. A special unit was establis hed within the authority to implement the 
leniency regulation and respond to requests for information fr om those wishing to benefit 
from it. Transposition of the  acquis  on horizontal cooperation agreements and the de minimis  
rules is still pending.  
The Competition Authority’s satisfactory level of administrative and operational 
independence, backed by its strong emphasi s on staff training, cont ributes to its high 
administrative capacity. The authority has a cl ear track record on im plementation of the 
competition rules. 
Regarding the enforcement record of the Comp etition Authority, in 2008 fines were imposed 
in 3 cases involving anti-competitive agreements or abuse of a dominant position. The total 
amount of fines imposed by the authority in creased by 57% in 2008 compared with the 
previous year. The authority c oncluded 57 negative clearance a nd individual exemption cases 
(i.e. notified cases that were accepted) while 65  cases were opened. In the first half of 2009 
the authority has been active mainly in the sect ors of chemicals and medicine, as well as in 
iron and steel and imposed fines in 2 cases. Esta blishment of a special chamber in the Council 
of State accelerated reviews of competition decisions. The number of appeals introduced 
decreased by 13.5%. 
No progress can be reported on alignment of the rules concerning public undertakings and 
undertakings holding exclus ive and special rights. 
No State aid  legislation was adopted nor was an operationally inde pendent authority 
established to monitor State aid. Progress was ma de as regards State aid to the steel industry 
when Turkey submitted a revised "National Restructuring Plan" for the steel sector in June 
2009. 
Conclusion 
Overall, Turkey shows a high level of alignment in the field of anti-trust, including its merger 
control rules. Turkey continued to enforce the competition rules effectively. The Competition Authority has a satisfactory level of administ rative and operational i ndependence. No further 
legal alignment in the area of State aid can be repor ted and the long-awaited state aid law is 
still pending. There is still a need to implem ent the EU discipline on State aid in the steel 
sector, as part of Turkey’s commitment under the ECSC Free Tr ade Agreement. Alignment in 
this chapter is not complete. 
4.9. Chapter 9: Financial Services 
Little progress can be re ported in the areas of banks and financial conglomerates . The 
Banking Regulatory and Supervisor y Authority (BRSA) took some  measures to counter the 
negative impact of the global financial crisis a nd asked banks to retain  profits in order to 
EN 50   EN strengthen their capital base. The BRSA also  introduced temporary provisions to make it 
easier for banks to restructure real-sector loan s. Parliament adopted legislation requiring the 
Central Bank to delete the credit history of loan customers if they repay their debt to the banking sector after a default. Turkey introdu ced a target capital ad equacy ratio (12%), 
liquidity regulations and changes in the accounting principles fo r securities. Operational risk 
was added to the calculation of capital requirements and draft credit risk-management 
standards were prepared. However, implementa tion of the Basel II Accord has not moved 
forward. 
The BRSA signed three new memoranda of understanding, one with the Luxembourg 
financial supervisory authority, one with the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates and 
another with the Lebanese Banking Supervisio n Committee, bringing th e total number signed 
to 19. The supervisory and enforcement capacity of the BRSA has been reinforced by means 
of a newly-developed information system-based  tool and by improving the existing systems. 
With a view to coordination, the BRSA clarifie d the rules for consolidated supervision of 
financial institutions which are supervised  by separate regulatory authorities. The 
organisational structure of th e BRSA and the duties of indi vidual departments have been 
reviewed and four new depart ments have been established. 
Turkey’s legislation is partially aligned with the acquis  on banks and financial conglomerates.  
Some progress has been made in the fields of insurance and occupational pensions . A new 
Cabinet decree allowed ships and yachts registered  in Turkey to take out insurance cover not 
only from Turkish but also from foreign in surance companies established abroad. The 
Treasury published an implemen ting regulation which clarified the minimum requirements for 
members of the insurance arbitration committ ee. Another implementi ng regulation laid down 
standards for provision of compul sory and optional insurance cover linked to retail loans. The 
Treasury adopted a new implementing regulation a nd started actuarial s upervision of special 
pension schemes operated by founda tions and associations. As fo r tariff liberalis ation in the 
compulsory third party motor liability insuranc e, the Treasury increased the upper limit on 
approved tariffs from + 20% to +100%. Furthermore, the insurance arbitration committee has 
become operational and 37 insurance compan ies participated in the new arbitration 
mechanism for the non-court settlement of disputes between consumers and services 
providers. 
However, prudential and supervisory standard s in both banking and the non-bank financial 
sector were not strengthened. There has been no progress towards establ ishing an independent 
regulatory and supervisory author ity in the insurance and occupa tional pension sector, falling 
short of another priority of th e Accession Partnership. Turkey largely fulfils the requirements 
on financial market infrastructure , but alignment remains partial in the case of insurance.  
There has been some progress on securities ma rkets and investment services. The Capital 
Markets Board (CMB) published a communiqué on listing requirements for debt instruments, 
which consolidated seven existing communiqués and introduced exchangeable bonds as a new 
type of instrument. The CMB revised its comm uniqué on the disclosure of material events 
with a view to harmonising the legislative framework with the acquis . The communiqué 
enabled companies to postpone disclosure of mate rial events. It also harmonised the rules for 
notification of acquisitions or disposals of major holdings in listed companies in accordance 
with the Transparency Dir ective. The CMB adopted a communiqué to regulate new 
instruments (warrants and shares without voting rights) that could be issued in the future. It 
also published a communiqué allowing establishm ent of listed companies for infrastructure 
investment, which are expected to help to fina nce public infrastructure investment projects. 
EN 51   EN Further communiqués have been issued rela ting to the internal auditing systems of 
brokerages, to documentation and recording in in termediary activities and in intermediation in 
the trading of derivative instru ments, to investment trusts, mu tual funds, infrastructure real-
estate investment trusts and venture-capital investment trusts, to utilisation of collateral deposited by brokerages and to the terms and conditions governing book-entry recording of 
dematerialised capital market instruments. 
No progress has been made as regards securities markets and investment services  (the 
Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MIFID), investor compensation schemes, 
prospectuses, market abuse a nd undertakings for collective investments in transferable 
securities (UCITS)). 
Turkey’s legislation is pa rtially aligned with the acquis  in the areas of securities markets and 
investment services.  
Conclusion 
Overall, some progress has been made in the area of financial services. Turkey’s legislation is 
partially aligned with the acquis  in all three sub-areas of financial services. 
‘Financial Services’ is one of the eight ch apters covered by the conclusions on Turkey 
adopted by the Council (General Affairs and External Relations) on 11 December 2006 and 
endorsed by the European Council on 14/15 Dece mber 2006. As long as restrictions remain in 
place on the free movement of goods carried by ve ssels and aircraft regi stered in Cyprus or 
whose last port of call was in Cyprus, Turkey wi ll not be in a position fully to implement the 
acquis  relating to this chapter. 
4.10. Chapter 10: Information society and media 
Progress can be reporte d in the field of electronic communications and information 
technologies . The penetration rate of mobile subscr ibers is 89%, as of August 2009. Further 
private investments were made in the fixed and mobile network infrastructure
38. The number 
of broadband subscribers reached 6.2 million by  the second quarter of 2009 but the share of 
alternative operators in the broadband and fixed telephony market remains low. 
The Electronic Communications Law n° 5809 was adopted in November 2008. This is a 
significant step towards aligning Turkey ’s regulatory framework with the EU acquis , notably 
as regards the authorisation rules and the task s of the regulator. Following the enactment of 
the Law, the Telecommunications  Authority adopted By-Laws,  which provide for further 
alignment with the electronic communications acquis . The amendments to the law have the 
potential to create the conditions for competition on the fixed telephony market.  
Progress can be reported as regards compe titive safeguards in the mobile market. 
Interconnection charges on the mobile market  were lowered by 30%  during the reporting 
period. Furthermore, a total of 6.2 million nu mbers were ported by August 2009, after the 
introduction of number portab ility in November 2008. Number  portability for the fixed 
telephony market was introduced  in September 2009. Three mob ile operators were granted 
3G service licences and started to provide services as of July 2009. 
                                                 
38 €628 million were invested in the fixed network infrastructure. € 1.190 million were invested in the 
mobile network infrastructure.  
EN 52   EN Tax on internet services was reduced from 15% to 5%. 
However, the Electronic Communications Law is not in line with the acquis , in particular the 
provisions on universal service obligations, and as regards the scope of authorisation rules, 
which does not apply to existing concession agr eements. Furthermore, the Significant Market 
Player regime (SMP) and market analysis proce dures lack a firm legal basis in the Electronic 
Communications Law. A detailed  review of primary and sec ondary legislation against the 
requirements of the acquis  would enable to identify remaini ng shortcomings in the legislation 
on electronic communications  
A number of issues remain to be tackled to unlock competition on the fixed telephony and 
internet broadband markets. Licensing conditio ns for local telephony ar e now operational but 
problems remain as regards numbering plans and interconnection rates. It is critical to 
improve interconnection conditions in voice  and broadband markets and to stimulate 
competition in these strategic markets. Clarific ation of the distribution of tasks between the 
Telecommunications Authority and the Competit ion Authority is needed. The principles of 
cost-accounting and accounting separation are no t fully applied by dominant operators on the 
mobile market. High taxation on communication se rvices unrelated to administrative costs for 
regulating the sector remains a problem. 
As regards information society services , Turkey’s legal framework is well aligned with the 
acquis  on network security obligations and cybercri me. However, Turkey is not a party to the 
European Convention on the Legal Protectio n of Services based on, or consisting of, 
Conditional Access. Turkey’s legislation on  e-commerce and the Electronic Signature 
Directive is not in line with the acquis . Some websites are frequent ly blocked by court order, 
highlighting the need for stronger guarantees of respect of freedom of e xpression with regard 
to access to the internet ( see the section on freedom of expression ).  
As regards audiovisual policy, the public broadcaster (Turki sh Radio Television, TRT) 
launched a 24-hour Kurdish TV channel (TRT 6) and radio station. TRT also started 
broadcasting for half an hour  twice a day in Armenian (see the section on cultural rights 
under Section I of this report) . The effectiveness of the Radio and Television Supreme 
Council (RTÜK) was strengthened. All decision s taken by RTÜK are published on its website 
and a forum for consultation with broadcasters  has been established. A roadmap on digital 
switchover was adopted, in line with the object ive set by the European Commission for the 
Member States. RTÜK allowed prospective intern et protocol television  operators to launch 
test transmissions. 
However, there has been no development in alignment with the acquis . The Law on the 
Establishment of Radio and Te levision Enterprises and their Broadcasts is still posing 
problems in terms of definitions, jurisdicti on, freedom of reception and retransmission, non-
discrimination on the grounds of nationality, prom otion of European and independent works, 
major events and restrictions on the share of foreign capital and tele vision enterprises. As 
regards administration of the broadcasting se ctor, RTÜK has not reallocated frequencies, 
which is damaging the broadcasting industry. More over, more than a dozen  TV channels were 
shut down for allegedly operating without li cences, although their application had been 
pending for several years. Time and content limitations continue for private channels 
broadcasting in languages other than Turk ish as does the translation requirement  (see the 
sections on political criteria and cultural rights). According to the broadcasters the 
restrictions make broadcasting in Kurdish technically difficult and commercially non-viable. 
As a result in 2009, only one TV and two radio stations broadcasted in Kurdish although in 
total six private broadcasters have licences. 
EN 53   EN Conclusion  
Overall, in the area of electronic communicatio ns, progress can be reported towards aligning 
Turkey’s national legislation with the EU framework. However, the adoption and 
implementation of secondary legislation are key to ensure an effective impact of the primary 
law on the market. The competitive situation, notably in the fixed telephony and internet/broadband markets, has not improved and this highlights the need for effective 
implementation of regulatory obligations. This is primarily the tasks for an independent regulatory authority. There has been little pr ogress in the area of audiovisual policy. 
4.11. Chapter 11: Agriculture 
Limited progress can be reported on legislativ e alignment with the common agricultural 
policy (CAP). No progress can be reported towards the announced restructuring of the 
Ministry of Agricultur e and Rural Affairs, although an out line for its future organisational 
structure exists.  
There has been limited progress with horizontal issues. Good progress can be reported only 
on implementation of the Farm Accountancy Da ta Network (FADN). The legal framework for 
the FADN has been consolidated by correspond ing implementing legislation which, together 
with successful testing of a pilot FADN system in nine provinces, creates the right conditions for setting up a comprehensive FADN system. Progres s in the area of agricu ltural statistics, in 
particular in the preparation of the strategy paper, remains low. No recent progress can be 
reported towards preparing a strategy to devel op a land identification system and farmers’ 
register in line with the EU requirements.  
The growing importance of agricultural support  instruments linked to production remained a 
cause for concern. The government’s decision to scrap the direct income support system 
marked a major shift in Turkish agricultural po licy away from the reformed CAP. Deficiency 
payments linked to specific sectors became since 2009 the main instrument of financial 
support to Turkish agriculture. A significant ch ange in policy took place in the hazelnuts 
sector, with the elimination of interventi on purchases by Turkis h Grain Board (TMO). 
Support to producers is replaced by coupled pa yments, marking a move away from price 
support measures. Turkey persists with banni ng imports of beef, live bovine animals and 
derivate products originating in the EU. This is  in breach of the bilateral obligations under the 
trade agreement for agricultural products. Remova l of this and other tec hnical barriers to trade 
remains a key component for the accessi on negotiations on this chapter.  
Concerning the common market organisation pr ogress has been limited to the adoption of 
implementing legislations on th e purchase and sales of cerea ls and on the purchase of 
rice/paddy rice. By this measure the TMO will have approximated to a certain extent the 
national legislation to Commission regulations on the matter.  
As regards rural development , Turkey has made further pr ogress with IPARD (Instrument 
for Pre-Accession Assistance Rural Developmen t) programming, as well as setting-up of a 
functioning monitoring and evalua tion system for IPARD and re lated legislation has been 
adopted. The IPARD Agency has been establis hed. The implementing legislation specifying 
the tasks of the service units and human resources policies of  the IPARD Agency has been 
adopted. However, too limited efforts regardin g recruitment and training of personnel have 
been observed so far. Further efforts are still ne eded to set up all the structures, necessary for 
implementing IPARD funds on the basis of d ecentralised management without ex-ante 
control, since the national accreditation of these structures has been delayed for more than one 
EN 54   EN year. As a consequence, this prevents the Commission from starting the procedures for 
conferral of management which can only be la unched subsequent to national accreditation. No 
progress has been recorded on the preparation of a National Rural Development Plan, which 
should complement the EU's IPARD support to Turkey.  
No progress has been observed on quality policy  and only limited progress took place on 
organic farming . As regards quality policy, Turkey has been working on revision of the Law 
on Geographical Indications. Current legislation in this area has some key differences with the 
relevant acquis  and there is scope for further alignmen t. As regards organic farming, Turkey 
has submitted additional information to the Commission supporting its requests to be included in the equivalency list of the third countries for imports of  organic products to the EU. 
‘Agriculture and rural development’ is one of  the eight chapters covered by the conclusions 
on Turkey adopted by the Council (General Affairs and External Relations) on 11 December 
2006 and endorsed by the European Council on 14/ 15 December 2006. As long as restrictions 
remain in place on the free movement of goods car ried by vessels and aircraft registered in 
Cyprus or whose last port of call was in Cypr us, Turkey will not be in a position fully to 
implement the acquis  relating to this chapter.  
Conclusion 
Overall, alignment with the acquis  remains limited. Current agri cultural support policies and 
strategic policy-making are in creasingly dissociated from the CAP, while the slipping 
timetable for accreditation of the IPARD structures reveals difficulties in setting-up 
functioning administrative and or ganisational structures and pr ocedures for the management 
of rural development funds in line with EU standards . Technical barriers to  trade in bovine 
products, in breach of bilateral commitments, remain an urgent issue. Progress in the 
preparation of strategies in th e fields of agricultural statis tics and land/farmer's registers 
remains slow. Overall, progress has been limited in this area. 
4.12. Chapter 12: Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy 
Turkey’s progress on transposition a nd implementation of the food safety acquis remained 
limited. The Framework Law on food, veterinary, f eed, hygiene and official controls, which is 
a key element for the accession negotiations on this chapter, has not  yet been adopted. 
As regards  veterinary policy,  limited progress was obser ved on transposition and 
implementation  of the acquis . However, legislative alignment on import control systems has 
yet to be completed. Th e border inspection post (BIP) at Sabi ha Gokcen airpor t in Istanbul is 
not fully operational. Problems with directing consignments fr om Ataturk airport have not 
been solved. Construction of thre e land BIPs and two at seaports  has been completed, but they 
are still not in operation. 
Turkey continued its efforts to bring the system  for identification of bovines and registration 
of their movements fully into line with the acquis. The system has been strengthened in terms 
of the registry of holdings, animal markets a nd slaughterhouses and of control of movements. 
Implementing legislation on identification and re gistration of ovine and caprine animals has 
been published and will apply with effect from  January 2010. However, implementation in the 
field has not yet started. An adequate identific ation and registration system for bovine, ovine 
and caprine animals is a key element in the accession negotiations on this chapter. No 
progress can be reported on control of commercial movements of pets.  
EN 55   EN Turkey continued its efforts to combat anim al diseases. The main focus was on foot-and-
mouth disease (FMD). As a resu lt of intensive vaccination and stricter control of animal 
movements between Thrace and Anatolia, there have been no FMD outbreaks in Thrace and 
the number in Anatolia has considerably decreased. There were no outbreaks of avian 
influenza in the report ing period. Nevertheless, Turkey continued its awareness campaigns. 
The Regulation to combat new castle disease and the Regulation on compartmentalisation for declaring disease-free status ha ve entered into force. Turkey continued its efforts to secure 
brucellosis- and tuberculosis-free status in Thrace. Regulations to combat brucellosis and 
bovine tuberculosis have entered into force.  However, no progress ha s been observed on the 
ground. Legislation on animal health controls ha s not yet been completed. No progress can be 
reported as regards transmissible spongiform en cephalopathy (TSE). Turkey continued timely 
notification of animal diseases in line with its international obligations. 
Turkey introduced improved procedures to implement and follow up the national residue 
monitoring plan and to contro l veterinary medicinal products. Certain substances which have 
to be controlled in order to meet the requirements of the acquis  have been added to the 
national legislation. Nevertheless,  some important aspects are st ill missing, in particular as 
regards laboratories and the inclusion of all substances. 
No progress has been observed on financing veterinary insp ections and controls. Import 
requirements for live animals and animal products are still not in line w ith EU practices. The  
de facto  beef ban is still in place (see Chapter 11 ). Turkey has made no progress on animal 
welfare and zootechnical issues. 
Limited progress can be reported as regards the placing on the market of food and feed . The 
hygiene package, which is a key element of the accession negotiations on this chapter, has not 
yet been transposed. Hygiene guidelines have been  prepared and have started to be applied in 
various sectors. A communiqué on microbiological criteria en tered into force. However, 
further adjustments are needed to complete tran sposition in this field. The tasks of different 
departments and institutions are still unclear and lead  to problems with official controls. 
Intensive training programmes have brought improvements in the administrative capacity. 
The current inspection system has been evaluated with a view to accreditation of the services. 
However, no significant progress has been obse rved in the field. The Regulation establishing 
the National Food Reference Laboratory has entered into force. Annual inspection and 
monitoring programmes have been implemente d and their scope has been extended. The 
classification of agri-food establishments, which is a key element of the accession negotiations on this chapter, has been completed by Turkey. Its alignment with the acquis  
remains to be confirmed. No substantial action has been take n to bring agri-food 
establishments into complian ce with the EU hygiene requirements. No progress has been 
observed on animal by-products. 
Further advances were made on alignment and implementation of the le gislation on labelling, 
presentation and advertising, food additives an d purity criteria, extraction solvents, quick-
frozen foodstuffs, food for particular nutritiona l uses, irradiated food and mineral waters. 
Transposition of the measures on flavourings , food supplements, novel food and genetically 
modified organisms (GMOs) has not been comp leted. Limited progress has been observed in 
the area of materials to co me into contact with food. 
Concerning general food safety  policy, Turkey’s national rapid alert system for food and feed 
has been improved to ensure effective follow-up  of notifications. However, the number of 
notifications received, pa rticularly on aflatoxin, remains significantly high. 
EN 56   EN No progress has been observed with regard to specific rules for feed and animal by-products. 
Progress on phytosanitary policy  has remained limited. Alignm ent has progressed for plant 
protection products. A Regulation concerning th e sale of plant protection products on 
prescription, a Regulation on recording and m onitoring chemicals to be used for plant 
production and a Regulation concerning the placi ng of plant protection products on the market 
have entered into force. A communiqué regulat ing registration, import, production and use of 
biological agents has entered into force. Prepar atory work has started on establishment of a 
pilot-scale plant passport system . 
Progress has been limited in the case of seed and propagating material s. Variety registration 
and seed certification software system has been  established. No developments can be reported 
on implementation of international phytosanitary agreements. 
Conclusion 
Overall, limited progress has been observed in  the area of food safety, veterinary and 
phytosanitary policy. Efforts continued, but transposition and implementation of the acquis in 
this area is still at an early stage. Strengthening administrative structures remains pivotal for 
continuing alignment under this chapter. 
4.13. Chapter 13: Fisheries 
No significant progress has been made  with alignment with the fisheries acquis . The amended 
Law on Fisheries has still not been adopted. Th ere has been no progre ss on reorganisation of 
the administrative structures necessary for c onsistent implementation of the common fisheries 
policy. Responsibility for fisherie s is still spread be tween various minist ries and different 
departments within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA). 
There has been some progress on resource and fleet management . Four new port offices 
were established, bringing the total up to 34. The Fisheries Information System (FIS) has been 
improved, but is not yet fully f unctional; further progress is needed with regard to the 
collection of catch and landing da ta. A fleet register number has been assigned to each vessel. 
All vessels have been registered with the FIS a nd all procedures related to vessels have been 
carried out via this system. Regi stration of logbooks in the FIS ha s started. Quota applications 
related to baby clam have been monitored by the FIS on a pilot scale. Alignment of the 
legislation regarding the tonnage measuremen t of vessels between 15m and 24m long and 
vessels smaller than 15m has been completed.  However, a four-year transition period for 
vessels between 15m and 24m has been gran ted for implementation. No progress can be 
reported on stock assessment and data collection is still patchy a nd incomplete with regard to 
the major fish stocks in the Black Sea. 
No progress has been made on structural action , inspection and control , market policy 
and state aid . 
As regards international agreements , Turkey introduced an individual quota system for 
blue-fin tuna in order to distribute the tota l quota it had been gi ven by the International 
Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). Turkey has formally objected 
to the size of its quota , but it has neverthele ss given a commitment to abide by it and other 
provisions of the multi-annual recovery plan for Eastern blue-fin tuna. Further measures to 
comply with ICCAT commitments are therefore needed. 
EN 57   EN ‘Fisheries’ is one of the eight chapters cove red by the conclusions on Turkey adopted by the 
Council (General Affairs and External Re lations) on 11 December 2006 and endorsed by the 
European Council on 14/15 December 2006. As long as restrictions remain in place on the 
free movement of goods carried by ve ssels and aircraft registered in  Cyprus or whose last port 
of call was in Cyprus, Turkey will not be in a position fully to implement the acquis relating 
to this chapter. 
Conclusion 
Overall, some progress has been made on reso urce and fleet management and implementation 
of international agreements. Ho wever, no progress has been made  on legislative alignment in 
this chapter. Turkey has not yet establishe d the administrative structures necessary to 
implement the common fisheries policy. 
4.14. Chapter 14: Transport policy 
Some progress has been made on road transport . Turkey has issued a second decree aiming 
at a more effective facilitation of the fleet renewal scheme and phasing out old vehicles. 
Turkey is close to becoming a party to the European Agreement on the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR). The Dir ectorate-General for Land Transport (DGLT) 
has increased the capacity of the unit responsib le for the implementing regulation. However, 
inspection capacity is still limited for the ADR. Turkey has completed the task of establishing 
inspection facilities for roadworthiness test s on motor vehicles. However, DGLT lacks the 
necessary monitoring and control capacity which calls for comprehensive technical training 
for the staff. Licensing and certification of pr ofessional competence have been completed for 
international road transport operators and ar e close to completion for domestic operators. 
Little progress was made towards meeting the EU  technical requirements in the field of road 
transport, in particular for introduction of dig ital tachographs, which will be obligatory with 
effect from June 2010. Turkey has not yet designated the authority responsible for 
implementation of digital tachographs. Alignment in the road transport sector is generally 
advanced. 
No progress can be reported towards effective alignment with the acquis  on rail transport . 
Although drafting of the railways reform package has been finalised, there is no progress 
regarding its adoption. Preparedness in this sector remains at a very early stage. 
Turkey has no inland waterways transport  covered by the acquis . 
Limited progress was made on air transport . A new Regulation on car riage of liquids on 
aircraft was adopted. Implementa tion is still in the pilot pha se, which started at Antalya 
international airport. In the light of the experience gained, the system will be extended to all airports in Turkey. The capacity of the Directorate-General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the field of aircraft maintenance has been impr oved. Based on its accreditation by the European 
Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the DGCA is issuing approvals for maintenance organisations in line with EU standards. Rela tions with the EASA have  been put on a formal 
footing by a working arrangement signed on 7 July 2009. Turkey became a party to the 
Montreal Convention.  
Further discussions on a horizontal aviation agre ement took place in June 2009 and have to be 
pursued as a matter of priority in view of recognising Community designation, a fundamental 
requirement under Community law. In this respect,  Turkey has yet to de velop a clear strategy 
for the progressive alignment to the acquis on the Single European Sky, including aspects 
EN 58   EN related to civil-military coordination. The invol vement of Turkey into the Pan-European 
dimension of SESAR is finally ensured. 
Air traffic management is suffering from a l ack of regional cooper ation. The lack of 
communications between air tra ffic control centres in Turkey  and the Republic of Cyprus 
continues seriously to compromise air safety  in the Nicosia flight  information region. A 
technical solution has been submitted by the Commission and Eurocontrol and an agreement 
needs to be reached between th e parties involved without delay. 
In the field of maritime transport , little progress can be reported. Despite years of 
consultation, the maritime safety framework la w has not been adopted.  Legislation on roll-
on/roll-off passenger ships has been amended to meet the voyage da ta recorders (VDR) 
requirements of the International Maritime Or ganisation (IMO). The Regulation on seafarers 
has been further amended. The technical capacity for education and training of the saefarer's is lagging behind. A new Regul ation on tonnage measurement has been implemented. 
Preparations for improving the in stitutional capacity to prevent pollution from ships, along 
with emergency response capacit y, have not yet been launched. 
There has been some progress on prepar ing regulations on SOLAS-78, SOLAS-88 and 
Marpol Annexes III and IV. Detention rates of  Turkish vessels droppe d further (to 5.7% in 
2008). Turkey has moved to the white list of  the Paris Memorandum of Understanding No 
progress on maritime security can be reported.  Alignment is advanced on maritime safety. 
The rules on market access and ship registration are not in line with the acquis. No particular 
development can be reported in the areas of combined transport and satellite navigation .  
No progress has been made on state aid. There is  no established institution or legal framework 
in Turkey to regulate State aid.  
Transport policy’ is one of the eight chapters  covered by the conclusions on Turkey adopted 
by the Council (General Affairs and Extern al Relations) on 11 December 2006 and endorsed 
by the European Council on 14/15 December 2006. As long as restrictions remain in place on 
the free movement of goods carri ed by vessels and aircraft regist ered in Cyprus or whose last 
port of call was in Cyprus, Turkey will not be in a position fully to implement the acquis  
relating to this chapter. 
Conclusion 
Limited progress has been made on alignment in the transport sector. In the case of road 
transport, further alignment has been observed. However, the im plementation capacity is still 
lagging behind and Turkey must give priority to implementation of th e digital tachograph in 
particular. No progress can be reported in the rail sector. There has been limited progress on 
air transport. The lack of communications betw een air traffic control centres in Turkey and 
the Republic of Cyprus continues seriously to compromise air safety. Turkey remains outside 
the efforts to integrate European airspace. Pr ogress in the maritime sector has been limited, 
the move of Turkey to the white  list of the Paris MoU confir ms Turkey's good performance as 
a flag state. The instituti onal capacity for prevention of pollution and emergency response 
should be improved. In both the air and maritime  sectors, no progress has been made towards 
becoming a party to international conventions. 
EN 59   EN 4.15. Chapter 15: Energy 
In the field of security of supply,  some progress can be reported. An intergovernmental 
agreement on the Nabucco pipeline project wa s signed in July 2009. However, the agency 
which would facilitate oil stockholding a rrangements has not been established. 
Regarding the  internal energy market, significant progress can be  reported on electricity. 
Turkey has successfully engaged in a comprehensive reform of its electricity market and in 
gradually opening it to competition. Turkey took a major step towards creating a sound economic and financial basis for the electricit y sector by introducing a cost-based pricing 
mechanism for the State-owned energy comp anies by mid-2008. Implementing regulations on 
ancillary services and a new balancing and settlement regul ation were adopted for the 
electricity market. A new balancing and settle ment regulation was adopted, but is not yet 
implemented. Following adoption of the cost-bas ed pricing mechanism last year, quarterly 
adjustments were applied to electricity retail prices. The threshold for eligible consumers was 
further reduced to 480,000 kWh, equivalent to opening 50% of the market. During the 
reporting period, eleven generati on plants with a total insta lled capacity of 140 MW were 
privatised. Privatisation of distribution assets through a bloc k sale by using the sale method of 
100% of shares continued and pr ivatisation of two of the regi onal distribution facilities was 
completed. For two other regions th e process is in its final stage. The electricity theft and loss 
rate is around 14%. 
Limited progress can be reported on the natural gas sector. Positive developments took place, 
in the form of concession of gas distributio n to private companies in several regions. 
However, most issues concerning the market  structure, the unbundling of the transmission 
activities from supply activities and the rule s for access to the network remain pending. The 
procedure for transfer of a 4 bcm import cont ract from BOTAS to th e private sector has 
proved inefficient to create wholesale gas trade activities and has mainly benefited the leading 
gas exporter. The increasing discrepancy between the Natural Gas Market Law and 
developments on the market calls for substantial revision of the law. Natural gas infrastructure 
was further expanded and now cove rs 80% of the country. Sixty-f our cities are connected to 
the gas grid. Investments in gas storage are bein g prepared and should help to balance demand 
and supply. 
Negotiations started in September 2009 on Tu rkey's accession to the Energy Community 
Treaty. Both for the internal market in electri city and gas, renewabl e energy sources and 
energy efficiency, but also as regards energy related environmental issues, the accession of 
Turkey to Energy Community will be of particular relevance. 
There have been no devel opments in the field of state aid . A number of draft laws with a 
view to establishing an authority for monitoring state aid were submitted to parliament but 
subsequently withdrawn. 
Good progress can be reported on renewable energy. Implementing regulations were adopted 
on wind energy (clarifying technical evaluation of applications for licences for wind-based 
power) and on use of geothermal resources. In  the reporting period, six geothermal fields 
suitable for electricity genera tion were privatised. By the end of 2008 Turkey was producing 
17% of its electricity from re newable energy sources. The re vised strategy paper for the 
electricity sector set a target of producing 25% of the countr y’s electricity from renewable 
sources by the end of 2020 and installing 20,000 MW of wind power capacity by the same year. Considering that electric ity consumption is expected to  double by the same date, this 
objective will require significant efforts. 
EN 60   EN In the case of energy efficiency , some progress can be reported. Implementing regulations on 
the energy performance and insulation of bui ldings were adopted. Further implementing 
regulations were also adopted on efficient use of energy and ener gy resources and on the 
energy efficiency of small and medium-sized ente rprises. Efforts to raise public awareness of 
energy efficiency as a means to enhance energy security and combat climate change need to 
be continued and framework legislation must still be brought into line with acquis  
requirements. 
Limited progress can be reported on nuclear energy, nuclear safety and radiation 
protection . Turkey has not finalised the tender proce dure for selection of the contractor to 
build its first nuclear power plant, which will  have an installed ca pacity of 4,800 MW. The 
single offer is being assessed and will be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval. Implementing regulations on special principles a nd design principles for the safety of nuclear 
power plants were adopted. Regarding research  reactors, implementing regulations on special 
principles for safety, notification and reporting  of extraordinary inci dents, registration and 
reporting were adopted. Based on Turkish de clarations, it is supposed that the acquis  on 
control of high-activity sealed radioactive sources and orph an sources has been transposed. 
An implementing regulation on nuclear power plant sites was also adopted. However, the 
Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK) contin ues to perform both the regulatory functions 
and its operational tasks. Turkey is not participating in the Community programme on nuclear safety and radiation protection. Nor has it accede d to the Joint Convention on the Safety of 
Spent Fuel Management and Ra dioactive Waste Management. 
Conclusion 
There has been some, but uneven, progress in the energy sector. Developments on renewable 
energy, energy efficiency and the electricity mark et have been encouraging. However, in the 
cases of natural gas, nuclear energy, nuclear sa fety and radiation protection Turkey needs to 
implement its legislation and strategies. 
4.16. Chapter 16: Taxation 
There has been uneven progress on indirect taxation . Turkey’s value-added tax legislation is 
partially aligned with the acquis . Further alignment of the st ructure, exemptions, special 
schemes and application of reduced  rates is needed, with particular regard to the application 
of different VAT rates on w holesale and retail sales.  
As regards excise duties, some progress can be reported, in the form of adoption of an action 
plan on 18 May 2009 setting clear milestones with  a view to gradual full elimination of 
discriminatory taxation on alcoholic beve rages and imported tobacco. However, the 
discrepancies between the Tu rkish legislation and the acquis  on the structure of excise duty 
on tobacco and tobacco products remain unchanged. Turkey applies ad valorem  rates and has 
no element of specific excise duties. The Tobacco Fund remain s discriminatory. It sets a 
special duty on imported tobacco and cigarettes  only, which is not applied to domestic 
products. As regards alcoholic beverages, signi ficant progress can be reported. In connection 
with the action plan of 18 May 2009, the pro portional taxation was fully eliminated by a 
government decree adopted on 6 April 2009 with effect from 14 Apr il 2009 and new specific 
duty rates were set within clear milestones mutually accepted in view of full elimination of remaining discriminatory taxation. Turkey  has not yet introduced any duty-suspension 
arrangement for domestic move ments and fiscal warehouses.  
EN 61   EN There has been some progress on direct taxation . The tax burden on the minimum wage was 
reduced and the income tax brackets were incr eased. The Income Tax La w is being revised. 
Turkey will need to avoid introducing any measur es contrary to the prin ciples of the Code of 
Conduct for Business Taxation. 
Further progress can be re ported in the field of administrative cooperation and mutual 
assistance.  The taxpayer call centre, taxpayer serv ice centre and large taxpayer office 
established in the revenue administration are fu lly operational. Positive developments can be 
reported in the fight against the informal economy. An action plan for combating the 
unregistered economy was enacted, with action to  be taken by 2010. It includes a VAT refund 
risk-analysis project and an e- customs system for cross-chec ks on people i nvolved in VAT 
fraud. The revenue administrati on is responsible for monitori ng and assessing the activities 
set out in this action plan. 
Turkey has made further progress on operational capacity and computerisation . 
Computerisation of the provinc ial tax offices was completed and the tax administration is 
developing IT systems with a view to intercon nectivity between the Turkish IT systems and 
those of the EU and its Member States. 
Conclusion 
There has been progress towards le gislative alignment in this ch apter, in particular towards 
reducing the discriminatory taxation on alcoholic  beverages. Turkey’s tax system largely 
follows the structure of the EU acquis  in the fields of VAT, excise  duties and dir ect taxation. 
However, several discrepancies need to be  addressed before achieving full alignment. 
Modernisation of the tax administration has c ontinued, improving the service to taxpayers and 
increasing revenue. There have been positive de velopments in the fight against the informal 
economy. 
4.17. Chapter 17: Economic and Monetary Union 
There has been some progress on monetary policy . The Under-Secretariat of the Treasury 
published an implementing regul ation which allows insurance, reinsurance and private 
companies to present not only domestic but also foreign securities as collateral to fulfil their technical reserve requirements. This was a positive development in the direction of prohibition of privileged access for the public sect or to financial markets. The Central Bank 
adopted several measures to ensu re liquidity on the financial ma rkets. Turkey’s legislation is 
not yet sufficiently aligned with the acquis  in this area. The statute of the Central Bank does 
not yet ensure its full independence. The governme nt and the Central Bank continue to set the 
inflation target jointly. The national currency was renamed, reverting to Turkish lira, and new 
banknotes and coins were introduced with e ffect from 1 January 2009. This follows a 
transition period after introduction of th e new Turkish lira in January 2005. 
Some progress can be reported on economic policy . Turkey submitted the pre-accession 
economic programme for 2009-2011 to the Comm ission, albeit after a delay due to the 
ongoing negotiations with the IMF on a new sta nd-by arrangement. Macroeconomic stability 
was broadly preserved in spite of the global eco nomic and financial cris is. The swift response 
of the authorities, which relaxed both the moneta ry and fiscal policies, helped mitigate some 
of the negative effects of the downturn. To ad dress the global financial and economic crisis, 
the government adopted several fiscal and stimulus measures, mainly consisting of consumption tax cuts, tax incentives for large i nvestments and investments in certain regions 
and sectors, zero-interest loans to SMEs, inducements for Turks to repatriate savings held 
EN 62   EN abroad and incentives to increa se employment. The parliament adopted a law allowing the use 
of the Unemployment Insurance Fund for infrastr ucture investments, in particular in the 
South-East Anatolia region, wh ile introducing some measures to encourage job creation. At 
the same time, the fiscal relaxation may put at  risk benefits of fis cal consolidation from 
previous years, if they are not  withdrawn in timely fashion. Th e absence of credible fiscal 
plans added some uncertainty to the investment  climate. Structural reforms continued, in 
particular privatisation in the energy sector, albeit at a slower pace due to the challenging 
environment. Formulation and implementation of  economic policy remained fragmented until 
the Cabinet reshuffle, which centralised a significant number of institutions and functions 
under a single Deputy Prime Minister. 
Conclusion 
Some progress has been made on economic a nd monetary policy. The macroeconomic policy 
framework reflected the changing global economic conditions. Alignment with the acquis  in 
the field of monetary policy remains incomplete. There are still shortcomings in the legal framework, for instance as regards the full i ndependence of the Central Bank, prohibition of 
monetary financing of the public sector and pr ohibition of privileged access for the public 
sector to financial markets. 
4.18. Chapter 18: Statistics 
Good progress has been made on statistical infrastructure . The official stat istics programme 
for 2007-2011 was further updated. Progress can be  reported on the coordi nation role of the 
Turkish Statistical Institute (Turkstat) a nd on improving its administrative capacity. The 
Turkish Statistical Law was revised.  It now requires all statistical stakeholders to provide data 
to Turkstat, introducing a new pr ovision of administrative fines for non-compliance with this 
obligation. Another provision in troduced the passive confidentiality principle for the 
dissemination of foreign trade data. Furthermor e Turkstat signed co-operation protocols with 
the Council of Higher Education an d the Ministry of Health. So me progress has been made on 
classifications and registers . Activities started on business demography. The changeover to 
NACE Rev. 2 (Statistical Classification of  Economic Activities in the European 
Communities) is under way. However, Turkey has not yet submitted a detailed description on 
progress made in setting up the statistical fa rm register, which is a key element for the 
accession negotiations in this chapter.  
Good progress has been made on sector statistics . A working group on government accounts 
was established. It aims at compiling harmoni sed tables on general government accounts and 
fiscal notification. Turkey also made furthe r progress on timely production of key national 
accounts indicators in accordance with the Euro pean System of Acc ounts (ESA95). However, 
Turkey has not yet submitted a detailed description of the methodology used for compiling national accounts, which is a key element for th e accession negotiations in this chapter. As 
regards agricultural statistics, Turkey publishe d the results of thre e new surveys on farm 
structure, crop production and animal production. Some progress has been made regarding the 
accession partnership priority which requir es Turkey to align the methodology and 
organisational set-up for providing agriculture sta tistics in line with EU requirements. As for 
population and migration statistics, Turkey star ted to publish population data on a yearly basis 
and established a national educat ion database. In the case of public health statistics, Turkey 
adopted a new death certificate to  improve the quality of causes of  death statistics. In the area 
of business statistics Turkstat furt her improved short-term statistics. 
Conclusion 
EN 63   EN Good progress has been made in the area of st atistics. The Statistics  Law was revised and 
Turkstat took further steps to improve coordi nation of the statistical  system. Good progress 
has been achieved on sector statistics, in par ticular on social and business statistics. Further 
efforts are needed on national accounts and agricultural statistics and on the statistical farm register. 
4.19. Chapter 19: Social Policy and Employment 
There is no progress to report regarding transposition of the acquis  on labour law . The 
limited scope of the Labour Law
39 and transposition of a number of directives remain to be 
addressed. The administrative capacity of the Mini stry of Labour and Social Security and its 
affiliated institutions is not yet sufficient. Some efforts were made to combat child labour, but further resources are needed to address this pe rsisting problem. In the area of labour law, 
Turkey is not yet sufficiently prepared. 
Some progress has been made in the area of health and safety at work . Expertise on the 
acquis  improved as a result of traini ng and awareness-raising activities. However, the lack of 
legislation to transpose Framework Directive on th e safety and health of workers at work is a 
major shortcoming. Amongst other issues, employees  in the public sector  are still not covered 
by the health and safety legisl ation. The system for collectin g data on occupational diseases 
and accidents needs to be further strengthened. According to the latest official statistics, 
80,602 occupational accidents occurred in 2007
40. Accidents in the informal sector go 
unreported. As regards administrative capacity, the Labour In spection Board was 
strengthened, including by means of training and recruitment of  extra staff. However, the 
inspector per employee ratio is inadequa te to guarantee effective monitoring of 
implementation of the legislation41. Preparations in this area are ongoing. 
There has been little progress in the social dialogue . The reinstitution of  1 May as ‘Labour 
and Solidarity Day’ after 28 years was an en couraging step. The reform of trade union 
legislation is pending for several years. Full tr ade union rights have not yet been established 
in Turkey. The current legal framework is not in line with EU standards and ILO 
Conventions, in particular as rega rds the right to organise, the ri ght to strike and the right to 
bargain collectively, for both the private and pu blic sectors. The ILO Committee of experts 
called upon Turkey to adopt these reforms and suggested the organisation of a high-level 
bipartite mission to assist the government. Soci al dialogue, at cross-industry, sector and 
corporate level, remains generally weak. Overa ll, the percentage of workers benefiting from 
collective labour ag reements is low42. The channels for tripartite so cial dialogue, in particular 
the Economic and Social Council, need to be st rengthened. In the area of social dialogue, 
Turkey is not yet sufficiently prepared.  
                                                 
39 The Labour Law does not apply, inter alia , to businesses or enterprises in agriculture and forestry 
which employ fewer than 50 workers, to apprentices  and to trades and crafts businesses employing 
fewer than three persons. 
40 The incidence of accidents is highest in manufact uring of metal products (except machinery). Fatal 
cases of silicosis caused by poor working conditio ns in jeans sandblasting workshops continued to 
occur. 
41 T here are 591 labour inspectors, of whom 306 are social inspectors and 285 are health and safety 
inspectors. The number of employees is around 19,500,000 (excluding civil servants). That gives a ratio 
of around one inspector for every 32,994 workers. The ILO standard is one inspector for every 20,000 workers in transition economies.  
42 The collective agreements concluded in 2007 and 2008 cover a total of 694,474 workers out of 
21,194,000 in employment (i.e. 3%). 
EN 64   EN There has been some progress on  employment policy , in particular to reduce the negative 
effects of the economic and financial crisis. A number of individual me asures to stimulate 
employment, among other the extension of s hort-term work duration by six months, was 
adopted in August 2009. This complements the incentives for employme nt creation already 
adopted in 2008 under the "Employment package" . In the absence of an overall employment 
strategy, the impact has to be seen. The fight against the informal ec onomy has been given a 
higher profile. The government adopted an action pl an which combines a series of incentives 
and legal sanctions. However, the action plan la cks measurable targets and indicators and the 
method of measuring undeclared work still has to be further developed. The employment rate 
and labour force participation remain low, alth ough the latter increased for the first time in 
years43 (see Economic criteria ). The labour market deteriorat ed, against the background of the 
economic and financial crisis. The unemployment rate rose rapidly to  13.6% in the second 
quarter of 2009, especially youth unemployme nt. The latter reached 24.9% for the second 
quarter of 2009. As a result, demand for the se rvices of the Turkis h Employment Agency 
(ISKUR) increased rapidly. However, this was not met by a proportionate increase in human 
resources. The law on Turkey’s participa tion in the PROGRESS Community Programme has 
entered into force. No progress can be report ed towards finalisation of the Joint Assessment 
Paper on Employment Priority Policies (JAP). Prepar ations in this area are at an early stage.  
There has been good progress on the preparations for the European Social Fund  (ESF). The 
operating structure established und er the Ministry of Labour a nd Social Security, which is 
responsible for management of the IPA operational programme on human resources 
development, has recruited additional personnel and provided training. The process to confer 
powers on Turkish authorities for decentralised  management of the IPA management and 
control system has been finalised and a relate d financing agreement has been signed. Actions 
on promotion of female, youth and registered employment, on lifelong l earning activities and 
on increasing girls’ school enrolment rates will be supported in the framework of the IPA 
operational programme on human resources developm ent. Preparations in this area are on 
track. 
There has been little progress in the field of  social inclusion. The percentage of the 
population at risk of poverty is very high. Acco rding to the latest (2007) Poverty Survey, 
18.56% of Turkey’s population live below the poverty line, a slight increase since 2006. 
People living in rural areas are at considerably greater risk of poverty than urban dwellers. 
Poverty is also high among the working population, especially among casual/ seasonal 
workers, unpaid family workers, the self-employed and those in subsistence agriculture. Because social transfers are lacking, childre n are at disproportionate risk of poverty. The 
national mechanisms for monitoring poverty and social inclusion are weak. No progress can 
be reported towards the finalisation of the Jo int Social Protection and Social Inclusion 
Memorandum (JIM). Preparations in this area are at an early stage. 
There has been no progr ess in the field of social protection.  The percentage of people 
covered by social security is slightly below 80% and has been declining. Efficient planning, 
coordination and provision of soci al protection, social assistance and social services are still 
lacking. Often this results in ar bitrary delivery of services an d benefits, without objective and 
transparent criteria
44. The draft law on social assistance and payments without premiums is 
                                                 
43 41.7% and 46.39% respectively. 
44 The report of the State Supervision Board (DDK) acknowledges these problems, and recommends a 
better definition of types and amounts of social assistance, together w ith a definition of poverty; and 
EN 65   EN expected to address these issues, but has stil l not been adopted. The impact of the recent 
social security reform on the socially excluded is  not yet clear. Preparatio ns in this area are at 
an early stage. 
There has been no progress on anti-discrimination . There is no definiti on in law of direct 
and indirect discrimination. The acquis  concerning discrimination on grounds of racial or 
ethnic origin, religion or  belief, disability, age and sexu al orientation has not yet been 
transposed. There is still no Equality body in Turkey, as required by the acquis . Dialogue with 
non-governmental operators in this  area needs to be improved. Prep arations in th is area are 
not very advanced. 
Some progress can be reported in the field of equal opportunities. A Parliamentary 
Commission on Equal Oppor tunities for Men and Women was established (see Political 
criteria – Economic and social rights ). This will monitor developments in the field of gender 
equality, give opinions on draft laws and determ ine the legislative work needed to align with 
the international agreements to which Turkey is  a party. It will also examine claims of 
violations of equality between women and me n and gender-based discrimination, which are 
referred to it by the Presidency of parliame nt. Turkey adopted a national action plan for 
gender equality for 2008-2013, but it contains no information on human or financial resources. However, women’s participation in  the labour market remains the lowest among 
EU Member States and OECD count ries. The gender pay gap persists
45. There is still no 
Equality body in Turkey, as required by the acquis . Preparations in this area are on track. 
Conclusion 
Overall, Turkey made limited progress in the field of social policy and employment. The 
establishment of a Parliamentary Commission on Equal Opportunities for Men and Women is 
a positive step. Preparations for participation in the European Social Fund have accelerated. 
However, the legislation on labour law, health and safety at work and on anti-discrimination is not in line with EU standards. There ha s been no progress towards achieving full trade 
union rights in line with EU st andards and ILO Conventions. Wo men’s particip ation in the 
labour market is very low. Efforts to comb at undeclared work need to be stepped up. A 
substantial proportion of the population is at  risk of poverty, especially children. Due 
attention needs to be paid to the finalisation of  the Joint Social Protection and Social Inclusion 
Memorandum and of the Joint Assessment Pa per on Employment Priority Policies. The 
administrative capacity for effective implementation of the acquis  in the area of social policy 
and employment needs to be improved. 
4.20. Chapter 20: Enterprise and Industrial Policy 
Turkey made further progress with regard to enterprise  and industrial policy principles . It 
has prepared an industrial strategy document for 2009-2013 fo llowing EU policy principles. 
The process of preparation and reaching agreemen t on this document and its action plan needs 
to be completed allowing industrial policy subs equently to be implemented. The Ministry of 
Industry and Trade established an  entrepreneur information sy stem, including extensive data 
on companies and sectors and providing a soli d basis for policy analysis and design. The 
                                                                                                                                                        
 
suggests the unification of various institutions in this field under one roof, and establishment of a 
common database. 
45 According to the ILO report entitled ‘Global Employm ent Trends for Women’ (March 2009), in Turkey 
men employed in manufacturing earn twice as much as women.  
EN 66   EN Coordination Council for Improvement of th e Investment Environment (YOIKK), a key 
public-private initiative contributing to impr oving the business environment, continued its 
work and adopted its third action plan, now  covering 2009. A government action plan to 
address the informal economy wa s adopted in February 2009. This  includes spec ific measures 
and incentives in favour of registered compan ies operating in the formal economy. It also 
includes enforcement measures against unregiste red activities and awareness-raising to build 
public and institutional consensus. There are some  modest signs that Turkey is planning to 
improve the follow-up to and monitoring of policy strategies and action plans, e.g. by issuing 
quarterly progress reports on the YOIKK action plans and appointing additional dedicated 
staff to monitor implementation of the industrial strategy. 
There was some improvement in the business envi ronment, including procedures for starting 
a business and a regulation to speed up customs procedures. Ho wever, licensing procedures, 
market exit and bankruptcy proceedings remain cumbersome. Various crisis-response 
packages have been adopted by the government, introducing different type s of tax advantages 
for industry and SMEs. Furthermore, in respons e to the economic crisis, a regulation on short 
work was adopted to help companies to keep working during the crisis instead of closing 
down or laying off workers. 
Some progress was made with enterprise and industr ial policy instruments . New loan 
programmes were extended by the Small a nd Medium-sized Industry Development 
Organisation (KOSGEB). KOSGEB’ s mandate was extended to al l enterprises, including the 
services sector, by an amendment to the law es tablishing the organisati on. Ratification of the 
Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) was completed in January 2009. There has been a notable increase in R&D spending, with a rising share from the private sector. No 
further progress has been made towards comp leting alignment with Directive 2000/35 on 
combating late payment in commercial transactions. 
Some progress has been made in sector policies . The Ministry of Indus try and Trade prepared 
a strategy for the automobile sector. Turkey revise d its national restructuring plan for the steel 
industry. The revised plan focuses in particular on companies benefiting from State aid rather 
than the entire sector. 
Conclusion 
Turkey has made further progress on this chapte r, in particular in preparing a new industrial 
strategy and new sectoral strate gies, which now need to be co mpleted and published. There is 
also wider availability of enterprise and industrial policy support instruments and some 
improvements in the business environment. The follow-up to and monitoring of policy 
strategies and action plans have  improved modestly, but need fu rther strengthening. Overall, 
Turkey has achieved a sufficient level of alignment with the acquis  in the field of enterprise 
and industrial policy. 
4.21. Chapter 21: Trans European Networks 
Progress was made in the area of transport networks.  The Ministry of Transport issued its 
strategic plan for 2009–2013. The priorities are in line with the recommendations made in the 
transport infrastructure needs assessment (TIN A). Preparations are being made for projects 
and are well advanced for core network proj ects. However, a master plan for long-term 
investment has not yet been prepared. Substant ial progress is awaite d on development of a 
reliable system of transpor t data classified by type of  transport infrastructure. 
EN 67   EN In the area of energy networks , the European Community is supporting preparations for 
projects to create a stronger competitive electri city and gas market in the EU and improve 
security of supply. In July 2009 Turkey si gned the Intergovernmental Agreement on the 
Nabucco gas pipeline. This proj ect is an important strategic step towards closer energy 
cooperation between the EU, Turk ey and other States in the region as well as towards the 
diversification of energy sour ces. The timely completion of  the Southern Gas corridor, 
through notably the swift implementation of the Nabucco Intergover nmental Agreement, 
remains one of the EU's highest energy security  priorities. The objectiv e of the agreement is 
to set a common regulatory framework and facil itate the necessary investment decisions.  
Technical preparations to bri ng into operation the Turkey-Gr eece-Italy interconnector natural 
gas pipeline are continuing. 
As regards electricity networks, links are in pl ace with Bulgaria, Syri a, Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan 
and Georgia. Preparations for Turkey’s synchronisation with the UCTE (Union for the 
Coordination of Transmission of  Electricity) European power network are at an advanced 
stage. Turkey is giving priority to a number of  projects contributing to completion of priority 
links 4 (Greece-Balkan countries UCTE system) a nd 9 (Mediterranean elec tricity ring) in the 
EU projects of European interest. The Babaeski (Turkey) – Filippi (Greece) line is now fully 
operational. 
Some progress can be reported in the area of telecommunications networks. Turkey has 
become a participant in the information and communication techno logies policy support 
programme under the Competitiveness a nd Innovation Framework Programme.   
Conclusion 
Turkey has made some progress in the area of tr ans-European networks. In particular, it has 
signed the inter-governmental agreement on the establishment of the Nabucco pipeline. 
However, further efforts are still needed for th e clear definition of the core network priority 
projects and for the development of reliable transport data cl assified by type of transport 
infrastructure. 
4.22. Chapter 22: Regional Policy and Coordi nation of Structural Instruments 
Some progress was made with regard to the legislative framework . Turkey’s IPA 
Framework Agreement entered into force in  December 2008, providing the legal basis for 
implementation of IPA assistance in Turkey (including the EU Cohesion Policy precursor 
components III and IV of IPA). A Prime Ministry  circular on the offi cial appointment of 
institutions under IPA including the formal a ppointment of the Strategic Coordinator under 
components III and IV needs to be comple ted. Implementing legislation on support for 
projects and activities from development agencies entered into force in November 2008. 
Progress was made with the institutional framework . Turkey finalised the institutional set-
up and procedures for implementation of componen ts III and IV of IPA in a satisfactory way. 
This resulted in management of both compone nts being conferred to Turkey in July 2009 on 
the basis of certain conditions th at the Turkish author ities need to fulfil in a given time period. 
This allowed for the signing of financing agre ements for all programmes but the Transport 
Operational Programme in August/September; the latter was delayed for lack of mature 
projects. The State Planning Or ganisation, as the IPA strategi c coordinator, established a 
technical committee made up of representative s of the operating stru ctures (OS) and the 
horizontal institutions involved in management  of IPA funds (e.g. the national authorising 
EN 68   EN officer (NAO)/Treasury, the Central Finance an d Contracts Unit (CFCU) and the national IPA 
coordinator). The committee meets every three months to ensure smooth implementation of 
all four operational programmes (on transport, the environment, regional competitiveness and 
human resources development).  
Development agencies (DA) are now establishe d in all provisional NUTS II-type regions. A 
total budget of nearly €125 million has been earma rked for the development agencies in the 
2009 national budget. Relevant loca l and regional stakeholders are involved in establishing 
the budgets of individual DAs, but not in se lecting the provinces to host the DAs. The 
selection criteria are uncl ear and the process is not sufficiently transparent.  
Limited progress was made as regards administrative capacity . Training and technical 
assistance to strengthen central institutions involved in IPA implementation has continued. 
The NAO office has been reorganised, in line with Commission recommendations, and new 
staff were hired. However, the key across-the- board risk threatening implementation of all 
operational programmes remains the need for mo re efficient cooperation between the CFCU 
and the ministries designated as operating stru ctures, for further strengthening the institutional 
capacity of the institutions involved and for an acceleration of programme and project 
implementation including more rapid tendering and contracting. Administrative capacity at 
regional level remains weak.  
Some progress was made with regard to programming  and programme implementation . A 
solid project pipeline has been built up for the environment OP. Also, calls for proposals 
under the regional competitiveness OP and th e human resources development OP have 
created a good basis for absorbing the funds av ailable under these programmes. Participation 
by regional and local stakeholders was signi ficantly enhanced by the call for proposals 
procedures and by involving municipalities in  developing environmental projects. The 
transport OP has seen little su ccess in the preparation for impl ementation. Preparations for the 
single major high speed rail infrastructure proj ect have been severely delayed. The Turkish 
authorities and the Commission are actively seeking alternative projects sufficiently mature 
and consistent with the programme strategy.  
In the cases of monitoring and evaluation, limited progress was made. Further work was 
done by the working group bringing together operating structures an d the State Planning 
Organisation on development of the integrated management information system (MIS). Sector 
monitoring committees for all the OP s continued meeting on schedule. 
In the area of financial management and control,  limited progress was made. Currently, 
these tasks are managed on a temporary basis by the CFCU. Appropriate units to deal with financial management and cont rol aspects have been nomina lly established in each line 
Ministry, but the staff to be trained and appoi nted to them are currently working on other 
aspects of the project cycle (programming, prep aration of terms of reference, etc). The 
processes for building capacity within the Op erating Structures must be significantly 
accelerated with a view to capaci tate these structures to take  up responsibilities for tendering, 
contracting financial management and contro l from the CFCU by mid-2011 at the latest. 
Conclusion  
Turkey made some progress on this chapter. This  took the form, in particular, of finalisation 
of the legislative and institutional framework for implementation of IPA components III and 
IV and of involvement of local and regional stak eholders in preparing the project pipeline and 
setting up further development agencies. Furthe r strengthening of admini strative capacity is 
EN 69   EN needed at all levels. Turkey has to strengthen  the project pipeline fu rther, notably in the 
transport sector, in order not to lose IP A funds. Establishment of the MIS to support 
management and supervision of IPA measures needs to be finalised. Overall, Turkey’s 
alignment with the acquis  in this chapter remains limited. 
4.23. Chapter 23: Judiciary a nd fundamental rights 
There has been some progress on the  judiciary (see also under political criteria – part I of 
the report ). 
As regards the independence  of the judiciary, concerns remain  with regard to the procedure 
laid down in the Law on judges and prosecutors  for the selection of candidate judges and 
prosecutors. The main feature of the criticism is  that the criteria used for this selection are 
open to subjective interpreta tion. The case launched by two opposition parties with the 
Constitutional court for annulment of certain prov isions of the legisla tion is still pending.  
There has been no progress on the composition of the High Council of Judges and 
Prosecutors46 or on the reporting lines of judicial inspectors47. The Semdinli case, transferred 
to the Van military court following a decision by the Court of Cassation, is still pending. In 
2006, the civilian prosecutor previously in char ge of the case was dismissed from office by 
the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors. Th is disproportionate deci sion raised questions 
about the independence of the High Council48. 
On occasions senior members of the judiciary, of  the military and of an  association of judges 
and prosecutors made statements which are likel y to be perceived as pressure on individual 
courts and members of the judiciary, putting thus the impartiality  of the judiciary at risk in 
important cases. 
In relation to the professionalism and competence  of the judiciary, tr aining of judges and 
prosecutors49 and prison staff carried out  by the Ministry of Justice and the Justice Academy 
continued. A new Director of the Justice Academy has been appointed. However, the Justice 
Academy has still not developed into a strong and independent training provider for the entire 
magistracy, including at regional level. 
As regards the efficiency of the judiciary, the national judicial network project (UYAP50) has 
had positive results on court proceedings. Lawy ers are also reportedly using the system 
increasingly since March 2007; however, problem s accessing the system are reported in small 
cities. Mediation as an alternative to resolve di sputes is not used widely; this points to the 
need to raise awareness amongst the judicial actors and the public concerned. Provisions of 
                                                 
46 The composition of the High Council is not representative of the judiciary as a whole; only senior 
members of the Court of Cassation and of the Council of State are me mbers of this Council. 
47 The judicial inspectors, who are responsible for evaluating the performance of judges and prosecutors, 
are attached to the ministry , not to the High Council. 
48 The Semdinli case concerns the bombing in November 2005 that killed one person and injured others in 
the town of Semdinli in Southeast Turkey. The civilian prosecutor in this case published the indictment 
in March 2006. It included accusations against high-ranking military commanders. The General Staff 
criticised the indictment and urged those bearing constitutional responsibility to take action. The High Council of Judges and Prosecutors took the dismissal decision in April 2006. 
49 This involves a two-year pre-servi ce and continuous in-service training. 
50 UYAP is an information sy stem, an e-justice system. 
EN 70   EN the Criminal Procedure Code such as return of  the indictment and cross-examination have not 
been used sufficiently in practice. 
On 1 May 2009 there were a total of  7,081 judges (6,914 on 1 May 2008) and 4,040 
prosecutors (3,917 on 1 May 2008). On the same day, the total number of vacant posts for judges and prosecutors remained high: 3,875 as compared to 4,166 on 1 May 2008. In 2008, a 
total of 470 judges and prosecutors were appoint ed after completing th eir training at the 
Justice Academy. In the same year, after th ree competitions, 1,390 candidate civil judges and 
167 candidate administrative judges entered th e Justice Academy. Another 200 followed in 
the first half of 2009. 2,000 auxiliary staff wa s recruited in 2008. Overall, despite progress 
made in hiring judicial staff, the number of v acancies within the judiciary remains significant. 
There have been no developments on the establishment of the regional courts of appeal. 
Under the law, these should have been operational by June 2007. A final decision on their number and seats and on the timely provision of the material and human resources necessary 
for their operations has yet to be taken. 
The government approved the judicial reform strategy  in August 2009. This is a positive step 
ahead both in terms of the consultative process followed before its approval but also of its 
content that broadly provides for the right dire ction for reforms. The Ministry of Justice had 
presented a draft strategy in spring 2008, furthe r to which consultations with stakeholders, 
including civil society, took place. Judges and prosecutors,  including the High Courts, 
discussed the draft strategy on a number of occasions. The draft was also posted on the 
website of the ministry for comments. The st rategy is comprehensive and covers issues 
related to the independence, impartiality, effi ciency and effectiveness of the judiciary, 
enhancement of its professionalism, the mana gement system and measures to enhance 
confidence in the judiciary, to facilitate access to justice a nd to improve the penitentiary 
system. An action plan to implement th e strategy has also been approved. 
(See also 2.1. Democracy and the rule of law) 
Limited progress can be reported on anti-corruption (see also under political criteria – part I 
of the report ). The new law amending the Criminal Code and the Code of Misdemeanours 
takes into account the GRECO recommendations, a ligns Turkish legislation with international 
conventions and implements the requirements of  the OECD Bribery Convention together with 
the recommendations of the Financial Action Ta sk Force (FATF) concerning the prevention 
of money-laundering.  
The government, under the coordination of the Prime Ministry Inspection Board with the 
participation of other State institutions, carri ed out a broad consultation with stakeholders, 
including NGOs, with a view to prepar ing a national anti-corruption strategy.  
In the context of a fraud case against the char ity association Deniz Feneri in Germany last 
year, the Turkish prosecution continued the inve stigation in Turkey. Assets of the main 
suspects have been frozen in Turkey. No indictment has been submitted to the courts. 
A seminar took place on “Methods to Combat and Prevent Corruption”  bringing together 
local and international academic s, experts and officials to di scuss the methods and measures 
for the prevention of, and fight against corruptio n. Discussions focused on methods to combat 
corruption at both national and international level, investigation methods, awareness raising activities, financing of political parties and the role of the civil society, in particular the media 
and NGOs.  
EN 71   EN No progress has been made on adoption of legisl ation on the financing of political parties and 
election campaigns, which would increase transparency. There is no state body with the 
authority to audit election campaign financing. 
(See also 2.1: Democracy and the rule of law) 
As regards fundamental rights , there has been some progress (see also under political 
criteria and chapter 19: Soc ial policy and employment) ). 
Turkey expressed its formal intent to take pa rt in the work of the EU Fundamental Rights 
Agency. There have been no developments on the institutions monitoring and promoting 
human rights, which lack independence and res ources. As regards the establishment of the 
ombudsman, in December 2008 the Constitutional court ruled that the establishment of 
institutions not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution would distort the integrity of the 
administration and that parliament had no legisl ative power to establish such an institution. 
The necessary Constitutional amen dment for the establishment of the ombudsman has yet to 
be adopted.  
As regards prohibition of torture and inhuman or  degrading treatment or punishment , the 
government made limited efforts to ensure comp liance with the legal safeguard s to prevent 
torture and ill-treatment. Allegations of tortur e and ill-treatment and impunity of perpetrators 
remain causes of concern. Pending ratification of  the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention 
against torture, there is no independent national preventive mechanism in place for monitoring places of detention. 
With regard to respect for private and family life and, in particular, the right to protection of 
personal data , Turkey needs to align its legi slation with the data protection acquis , in 
particular Directive 95/46/EC, and, in that context, to set up a fu lly independent data 
protection supervisory authority. Turkey also ne eds to ratify both the CoE Convention for the 
protection of individuals with re gard to automatic pr ocessing of personal data (CETS No 108) 
and the additional protocol to it on supervisor y authorities and trans- border data flow (CETS 
No 181). Wiretapping has reportedly been used extensively and records of it published in the 
press.  
In the area of freedom of thought, conscience and religion, the government has undertaken a 
dialogue with both the Alevis and the non-Mus lim religious communities. However, their 
specific problems still have to be addressed. A legal framework in line with the ECHR has yet to be established, which would enable the Alevis and the non-Muslim religious communities to function without undue constraints. 
Regarding freedom of expression, including fr eedom and pluralism of the media , article 301 
of the Turkish Criminal Code is no longer us ed systematically to restrict freedom of 
expression. However, there are prosecutions based on a number of other articles of the 
Criminal Code. There are insufficient guarantees  in Turkish law to exercise freedom of 
expression in line with the ECHR and the EC tHR case law. Political pressures on the media 
and legal uncertainties affect fr eedom of the press in practice. 
As regards freedom of assembly and association, including the right to form political parties 
and the right to establish trade unions, the legal framework on associations is broadly in line 
EN 72   EN with European standards51. However, associations face di sproportionate scrutiny of their 
activities which in some cases has led to judicial proceedings. There is no progress on 
amendments to the legal provisions on  the closure of political parties. 
As regards treatment of socially vulnerable and di sabled persons and the principle of non-
discrimination , in December 2008 Turkey ratified the UN Convention on the rights of persons 
with disabilities. However, people with physi cal disabilities have problems in accessing 
services mainly due to physical barriers and lack  of awareness. Mental health is an area of 
concern and there is no independent body in Turkey  to carry out inspecti ons of mental health 
institutions. 
Anti-discrimination is enshrined in the Constitu tion and upheld in several laws. However the 
legal framework is not adequa tely aligned with the EU acquis (see chapter 19 – Social policy 
and employment ). Provisions of the Turkish Criminal  Code on "public exhibitionism" and 
"offence against public morality" are sometimes us ed to discriminate against the lesbian, gay, 
bi-sexual, transvestite and transgender (LGBTT) community. Homophobia has resulted in 
cases of physical and sexual violence while cour ts have on occasions applied the principle of 
"unjust provocation" in favour of perpetrators of  crimes against transsexuals and transvestites. 
With regard to the right to education, the gender gap in primary education was halved from 
2.3% in 2007/2008 to approximate ly 1% in 2008/2009. The number  of children in pre-school 
education increased by 14% from 2007 to 2008, taking the overall pre- school education rate 
up to 33%. The number of teachers in pre-schoo l education also incr eased by 14% from 2007 
to 2008. The e-school system enables the Ministry  of National Education to identify and reach 
children who are out of school at any given time . However, regional di sparities in primary 
school enrolment persist: there is a difference of more than 10% between some western and 
eastern parts of the country. As regards conti nuation to secondary schoo l, the net enrolment 
rate drops from 96.5 % at primary school52 to 58.5% at secondary school. 
On the right to property , the Law on Foundations of February 2008 has been implemented 
smoothly over the reporting period. However,  this law does not address the issues of 
properties seized and sold to third parties or of properties of foundations merged before the 
new legislation was adopted. Syriacs continue to  face difficulties in relation to property. A 
number of court cases are in  progress concerning both priv ate individuals and religious 
institutions. In particular, the Mor Gabrie l Syriac Orthodox monastery has faced problems 
with land ownership. Turkey needs to ensure full respect of the prope rty rights of all non-
Muslim religious communities. 
With regard to gender equality and women's rights, the legal framework is broadly in place 
(see chapter 19 – Social policy and employment ). However, very limited progress has been 
made to date and further significant efforts are n eeded to turn the legal framework into reality 
and to narrow the gap between men and women in economic participation and opportunity, 
political empowerment and access to education. Domestic violence, honour killings and early 
and forced marriages remain serious problems in  some areas of the country. There is a need 
for further training and awareness-raising on  women’s rights and gender equality, for both 
men and women. 
                                                 
51 This does not refer to trade unions: the current Turkish legislation on the right to organise, to bargain 
collectively and to strike do es not meet EU standards (s ee chapter 19 Social policy and employment ). 
52 This rate was approximately 97% last year. The difference of approximately half a percentage point is 
mainly due to a change of statistical methods used by the Ministry of National Education to collect data. 
EN 73   EN As regards the rights of the child, efforts need to be further st epped up in all areas including 
administrative capacity, health indicators, education, the juven ile justice system and child 
labour. Cases of children between 15 and 18 y ears of age tried as adults and facing 
disproportionate sentences raise serious concerns. 
With regard to liberty and security and the right to a fair trial , access to justice  was relatively 
easier in urban areas while there have been proble ms in rural areas, in particular in the South-
East. Children from 15 to 18 years of age detain ed under the anti-terror law for participating 
in demonstrations have not had access to a lawyer immediately afte r detention. Overall, 
effective legal assistance is limited and a number of criminal defendants remain 
unrepresented. Defendants' awareness of the ava ilability of free legal assistance needs to be 
raised. 
As regards minority rights and cultural rights , Turkey has made some progress, especially in 
the form of launching the Kurdish-language TV channel TRT 6. However, restrictions remain, 
particularly on use of languages other than Turkish in private TV and radio broadcasting, in 
political life, in education and contacts with public services. The legal framework on the use of languages other than Turkish is open to rest rictive interpretations and implementation is 
inconsistent. There has been no progress in the situation of the Roma, who frequently face 
discriminatory treatment, while demolitions of their districts without pr ovision of alternative 
housing are continuing. 
Overall, there has been some progress as regards the judiciary . The adoption by the 
government of the judicial reform strategy following a process of consultation with all 
stakeholders is a positive step. The measures taken to increase staff and resources are also positive and need to be continued. However, concerns with particular regard to the independence, impartiality and effectiveness of the judiciary have yet to be addressed. With 
respect to anti-corruption , there has been limited progress on  strengthening th e legislation and 
institutional set-up to fight corruption that re mains prevalent in many areas. The adoption of 
effective implementation of the national anti-corruption strategy will be crucial. With regard to fundamental rights , there has been some progress, in particular on cultural rights. On 
several areas the government has started to take the initiative, thus contributing to the creation 
of an atmosphere conducive to addressing i ssues. However, these efforts need to be 
continued, in order to ensure full respect of  fundamental rights as guaranteed by the ECHR 
and the case law of the ECtHR. 
4.24. Chapter 24: Justice, Freedom and Security 
Limited progress can be reported in the field of migration and asylum . In October 2008 a 
Development and Implementation Office on Asylum and Migration Legislation and 
Administrative Capacity was set up. This office reports to the Under-Secr etary of the Ministry 
of the Interior (MoI) and carries  out studies, projects and needs analyses on the legislative and 
administrative structure for integrated border management (IBM) in line with the national 
action plan on asylum and migration and with  the national action plan on adoption of the 
acquis  (NPAA). The resources of this office are very limited compared with its tasks.  
The Task Force for Asylum and Migration plays a key role in ensuring uniform 
implementation of existing legislation. Under the coordination of th e new bureau, the task 
force met for the first time since summer 2007 in May 2009.  
No major legislative developments  can be reported in this area. As a result of adoption of the 
new Law on Social Insurance and General Health Insurance, access for asylum-seekers and 
EN 74   EN refugees to the Social Solidarity Fund has b een limited. However, according to the MoI, the 
needs of asylum-seekers were met from the budget of the MoI’s Department for Aliens, 
Borders and Security. 
Turkey remains a very important transit and de stination country for ir regular migration. In 
2008, 65,737 illegal immigrants were apprehende d by Turkish law enforcement agencies, 
followed by another 15,701 in the first six months  of 2009. This figure shows a slight increase 
in comparison with 2007 (when the total was 64,290). The number of smugglers apprehended 
also increased, from 1,242 in 2007 to 1,305 in 2008, the vast majority (1,235) still being 
Turkish citizens. The capacity of the accommodation for illegal migrants remains low, 
although two new units were inaugurated with  capacity for an additional 290 persons53, thus 
raising the total to 2,881.  
With 11,248 new asylum seekers in 2008 the nu mber nearly doubled in comparison to 2007 
(5,831 new asylum seekers). Out of the 11,248  applicants 6,877 are Iraqis, 1,997 Iranians, 
1,571 Afghans, 396 Somalis and 407 citizens of ot her nations. In comparison to 2007 these 
figures show an increase of 210% for Afghans , 194% for Iraqis and 15% for Iranians while 
the figure for Somalis decreased by 145%. The Tu rkish government spent the equivalent of 
USD 1.1 million in 2008 to cover the basic needs of  all asylum seekers – recognised refugees 
and “temporary asylum seekers” or “guests”. 
Work is progressing on setting up the country of origin information and asylum case-
management systems.  
The Turkish authorities have st arted screening apprehended ille gal migrants, although not in a 
consistent manner, in order to iden tify persons in need of protection. 
High migration inflows are putti ng pressure on the Turkish as ylum and migration system. 
Hence, reorganisation of this system and conc lusion of readmission agreements with source 
countries remain of key importance. Turkey continued to negotiate readmission agreements 
with Pakistan, Iran and Libya. No further progress was made on the readmission agreement 
with Afghanistan during the re porting period. Concludi ng negotiations on an EC readmission 
agreement with Turkey is a priority for the EU . Turkey recently accepted to resume formal 
negotiations blocked since December 2006. Until the EC readmission agreement with Turkey 
is concluded, and in line with the conclusion s of the European Council, already existing 
bilateral agreements should be implemented. 
Turkey maintains the geographical limitation on the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of 
Refugees and the related 1967 Protocol. High-qual ity preparatory studies and an adequate set-
up with sufficient capacity to cater for the larg e number of persons registered every year are 
lacking. Limited progress was made on establis hing a network of six centres for reception, 
screening and accommodation of refugees and asylum-seekers, two centres for illegal 
migrants and a new set of procedures and management rules for these centres. Specific 
training curricula for asylum and migration staff and a mechanism to keep the trained staff in 
the system are missing. 
Key priorities in the field of asylum remain  fair, equal and consistent access to asylum 
procedures for everyone (including in airport tr ansit areas), access to legal aid and to UNHCR 
staff, reduction of the waiting time for asylum pr ocedures and access to judicial review of 
decisions.  
                                                 
53 Bitlis with capacity for 150 on 5 December 2008 and Adana for 14 0 persons on 13 March 2009. 
EN 75   EN The continuing obligation to pay high residence permit fees ( ‘icamet’ ) every six months 
prevents refugees recognised by UNHCR from de parting to a resettlement country unless the 
outstanding amounts and overstay fines since their arrival in Turkey are paid. The 
requirement to pay the fee might also a pply to highly vulnerable individuals or 
unaccompanied minors, who have no legal means to obtain that sum.  
There has been little progress on visa policy . Turkey does not apply a uniform policy towards 
all EU citizens as regards the visa obligation. Currently, citizen s of 15 EU Member States are 
required to hold a visa to enter Turkey. This vi sa can be obtained at th e Turkish borders and, 
depending on the nationality of the applicant, will be valid for a duration of one to three 
months, and for one or several entries. Citizens of the other 12 Member States are exempted 
from the visa obligation for a short stay of up to 90 days.  
Turkey continues to voluntary align further with  the positive and negative EU visa lists; in 
that regard, it has granted visa  exemption to citizens of Brun ei Darussalam in April 2009. In 
the interest of a regional approach, Turkey main tains a visa-free regime for citizens of some 
South-Eastern European countries. Recently, it concluded a bilateral visa exemption 
agreement with Kosovo.  
Sticker- and stamp-type visas are still issued at  borders. Introduction of airport transit visas 
and of the new Turkish visa stickers with high er security features is  still pending. Turkey 
needs to continue its efforts to improve the secu rity features of visas, passports and travel 
documents to ultimately align them with the EU s ecurity features and standards. In particular, 
the introduction of biometric identifiers in these documents is important. Likewise, the 
improvement of security features of residence permits is crucial. 
Common training sessions have been organised on visa and passport procedures for current 
and would-be consular staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affair s, with the participation of 
relevant staff from the Ministry of the Interi or. However, the traini ng did not focus enough on 
document security issues. Since May 2009 most of  the Turkish representations abroad have 
been connected to ‘Konsolosluk.net’, the Minist ry of Foreign Affairs database on persons 
banned from entering Turkey. This is also inte rlinked with ‘Polnet’, the police database in 
order to share information with a view to more secure and faster processing of the 
applications. 
In the case of external borders and Schengen , limited progress has been achieved. 
Following establishment of the new bureau on asylum and migration, the Task Force on 
External Borders was restructured and, sin ce January 2009, has been  meeting every two 
months. Modernisation of the border crossing points (BCPs)  continued. The specialised 
department on border security st udies within the Police Academ y started up with 48 students. 
Limited progress has been achieved in the im plementation of the National Action Plan on 
IBM and in the definition of a clear road map. An official mechanism to monitor 
implementation of the plan is also missing. Effi cient and coordinated ri sk analysis at the 
borders, along with quality management units  at the border agencies, are important.  
Cooperation between the agencies involved in border management is weak, in particular 
between the police and the customs enforcement aut horities. Further steps need to be taken to 
establish a new civilian, non-military, border la w enforcement body under the Ministry of the 
Interior to perform border control tasks. In th e light of the flows of  illegal migration via 
Turkey, good border cooperation with neighbouring c ountries is essential. Turkey has shown 
efforts with a view to conclude a working arrangemen t with FRONTEX.  
EN 76   EN No progress can be reported on judicial cooperation in criminal and civil matters . During 
the reporting period 1,761 requests for mutual le gal assistance on criminal matters were 
received by Turkey, of which 251 were processed. A further 1,898 requests falling within the ambit of judicial cooperation on civil matters  were received in the same period and 662 of 
them were processed. The number of Turkish o fficials appointed as contact points increased 
from two to five. Turkey has not yet signe d the Council of Europe Convention against 
Cybercrime. No steps have been taken to sign a cooperation agreement with EUROJUST.  
Turkey is party to all the main conventions on police cooperation  and contributes actively to 
such cooperation at regional and international leve ls. The code of ethics adopted in line with 
international standards has now been introduced into th e training programmes for law 
enforcement agents. A Regulation on reviewing and redrafting the mandate of the police and 
gendarmerie within the borders of provincial and district municipal ities was published in 
March 2009. Turkey signed two additional bila teral agreements on police cooperation, one 
with Lebanon in November 2008 and one with Sp ain in April 2009. However, due to the lack 
of adequate legislation on personal data protect ion, international cooperation in this field and 
an operational agreement with Europol remain difficult.  
Limited progress has been made in the fight against organised crime . The Regulation 
implementing the Witness Protection Law was a dopted in November 2008. The ratification of 
two implementing regulations is underway. W itness protection programmes are currently 
being implemented. A Department for Witness Pr otection was established within the Turkish 
police force in June 2008. The capacity of the sp ecial unit dealing with criminal proceedings 
within the Department for Combating Smuggli ng and Organised Crime has been enhanced. 
There has been progress on establishing of the legal framework for a nationwide DNA and 
fingerprint database and invest ment in forensics has increase d. The strategy against organised 
crime, in line with EU best practice, needs to be updated an d followed up by a specific action 
plan. The quality and reliability of statistics on law enforcement in this field are crucial.  
Some progress can be reported on combating hum an trafficking. Turkey signed the Council of 
Europe Convention on Action against Trafficki ng in Human Beings in March 2009. In 2008 a 
total of 253 traffickers were arrested and 120 victims identified, while as of August 2009, 258 
traffickers have been arrested and 67 vic tims identified. Following the 2005 amendment of 
the Penal Code introducing tougher penalti es for human trafficking, the number of 
prosecutions against trafficker s continued to incr ease. In 2008 a tota l of 273 suspected 
traffickers were prosecuted, a significant incr ease from 160 suspected traffickers prosecuted 
in 2007 Institutional capacity to  combat human trafficking was further strengthened, in 
particular by means of training for judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers. The 
National Task Force on Combating Human Tr afficking, coordinated by the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs (MoFA), continued to meet regul arly. Voluntary return of victims is provided 
for in co-operation with IOM, NGOs, law enfor cement bodies and releva nt institutions in 
source countries (543 cases betw een 2005 – 2008, of which 78 in 2008). 
However, it is important to improve the ta sk force's structure and powers. A coherent 
statistical system for monitoring human trafficking is not availa ble. Furthermore, according to 
the available official statistics, there has b een a decrease in identification and referral of 
trafficked persons to protection and support mechanisms.  
No major legislative developments took place in this area during the reporting period. 
Ratification of the Council of  Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human 
Beings is still pending. Adoption of the sec ond National Action Plan on Combating Human 
EN 77   EN Trafficking has been pending for the last two years. The sustainability of the 157 free 
emergency helpline, currently operated by th e International Organisation for Migration 
(IOM), and its transfer to rele vant public authorities remain  to be urgently addressed. 
Sustainable funding for the two centres for vic tims of trafficking in Ankara and Istanbul 
which are managed by civil societ y organisations is not guarantee d. Turkey also needs to step 
up efforts on the prevention side and as regard s the protection of victims of trafficking. (For 
the fight against money laundering see Chapter 4).  
As regards the fight against terrorism, implementing legislation has been adopted to identify 
transactions suspected of be ing related to terrorist financing. The Financial Crimes 
Investigation Board (MASAK) received 228 re ports of suspicious transactions in 2008 
compared with 144 in 2007. A Counter-terrorism  Troika took place in September allowing for 
an an exchange of views and for a better mutual understanding of Turkey's and the EU's concerns. However, Turkey has not ratified the International Conven tion for the Suppression 
of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism and the Council  of Europe Convention on the Prevention of 
Terrorism. Compliance with the nine special recommendations by the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) on financing of terrorism , particularly on freezing and confiscation of 
terrorist assets and on wire transfers, is limited. 
Some progress can be reported in the fight against drugs . The coordination board and 
scientific committee continued to meet on a quart erly basis. A number of action plans have 
been adopted at provincial le vel, in Aksaray, Edirne, K ırıkkale, K ırklareli, Kütahya, 
Osmaniye, Sakarya, Sinop, Tunceli, Yozg at and Kastamonu. In November 2008, the 
parliamentary commission on the fight agains t drugs and on drug demand reduction published 
a report which made a set of recommendations c oncerning the institutional and legislative 
framework. In total eight seizures, incl uding amongst others 39,191 kg of hashish and 15,447 
kg of heroin were made by Turkish law enfor cement bodies and joint action on controlled 
delivery continued. 
In October 2008 the National Reitox Focal Point wa s upgraded to a divisi on attached directly 
to the Department for Combating Smuggling a nd Organised Crime of the Turkish police. 
However, its human resources capacity is relatively weak and it still lacks an autonomous budget. The agreement concerning the participat ion of Turkey in the European Monitoring 
Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has not been ratified. A balanced approach 
between drugs supply reduction and demand re duction has not been achieved. Prevention, 
treatment and rehabilitation facilitie s need to be further developed.  
Some progress was made on  customs cooperation . The Under-Secretariat for Customs made 
efforts to strengthen its administrative and ope rational capacity, but lit tle progress was made 
towards substantially decreasing the rate of physical inspections, thus hampering 
implementation of a risk management system aligned with EU requirements. Efforts were 
made to achieve IT interconne ctivity with the EU systems on transit (NCTS) and tariffs 
(TARIC and the quota and surveillance system), but the Under-Secretariat  has not adopted an 
IT strategy. 
The efforts made to improve the training of  customs officers in regional offices were 
insufficient to ensure uniform enforcement of th e customs rules. Turkey has been one of the 
main suppliers of counterfeit products se ized by EU customs authorities and lacks 
enforcement capacity for IPR controls on both imports and exports. 
For counterfeiting of the euro please see chapter 32. 
EN 78   EN Conclusion 
Some, but uneven progress was made in the area of justice, freedom and security. Turkey has 
achieved limited progress on external borders a nd Schengen. Limited progress can also be 
reported in the field of migrati on and asylum. In the face of a sharp increase in asylum seekers 
efforts need to continue to reorganise th e system. As to the EC-Turkey readmission 
agreement, Turkey recently accepted to resume formal nego tiations blocked since December 
2006. Turkey has shown efforts with a view to conclude a worki ng arrangement with 
FRONTEX. There has been little progress on visa policy and none  on judicial cooperation in 
criminal and civil matters. 
4.25. Chapter 25: Science and Research 
Good progress can be reported on science and research policy. Three Regulations on R&D 
support programmes were updated to increase the effectiveness of the existing support 
programmes for SMEs, entrepreneurs worki ng in the fields of innovation and high 
technologies and international research  cooperation activities by industry. 
A Minister of State has been appointed to coordinate all stakeholders involved in R&D 
policy-making and all the institutions under va rious ministries. The national level of R&D 
support has increased sharply over  the last few years and has been maintained despite the 
economic crisis. In particular, an additional €10 0 million were allocated to the Scientific and 
Technological Research Council (Tübitak) in  2009, thus increasing its 2009 budget by 36%. 
The administrative capacity  of the Scientific and Technolog ical Research Council (Tübitak) 
has been reinforced by recruiting new staff, enab ling Turkey to attend more frequently the 7th 
Framework Programme governance bodies. Turkey has also a very well  functioning National 
Contact Point Network.  
A special issue of Tübitak’s magazine was devo ted to Darwin and the evolution theory in 
June 2009, thus ending the controversy that fo llowed the decision to postpone the publication 
of a special issue on this subject in March. 
Turkish participation in the 7th Framework Programme  for research and technological 
development (FP7) improved. The most successf ul areas include information communication 
technologies, nano-materials, transport, f ood, biotechnology and security. The Action Plan 
established for 2007-2008 has proven to be very useful to improve information sharing on 
research opportunities under the FP7 and to increase awareness on the importance of engaging 
in research with the EU. The discussions with the Commission to update the Action Plan for 
2009-2010 started, after Turkey sent its  draft proposal in August 2009. 
The procedure to associate Turkey to the Seventh Euratom Research Framework Programme  
(2007-2013) has been launched based on the au thorisation from the Council on the draft 
Science & Technology (S&T) agreement, with the objective to make the association effective 
as from 2010.  
Active cooperation with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) continued in the form of 
participation by Turkish researchers in JRC wo rkshops, high-level meetings, involvement in 
JRC projects and networks and secondment of  Turkish researchers to JRC institutions. 
Concerning integration into the European Research Area (ERA) , Turkey is an observer in 
the EU Scientific and Technical Research Co mmittee (Crest) and has nominated observers in 
the other ERA governance bodies. Turkey has take n several measures at national level, in 
particular with mobility of researchers and investment in research, which contribute to the 
EN 79   EN objectives of the European Research Area. In addition, Turkey is acti vely participating in 
other European initiatives including Cooperati on in the field of scie ntific and technical 
research (COST), the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Science Foundation (ESF), the Competitiveness and Innovation Progr amme (CIP), the European Molecular 
Biology Conference (EMBC) and EUREKA. In EU REKA, Turkey ranked 12th in 2008 out of 
the 38 member countries, up fr om 28th place in 2007. Turkey is  well embedded in the EU’s 
international cooperation activities, such as re search coordination with  the Western Balkan 
countries, Eastern Eu rope, Central Asian countries, the Black Sea region and the 
Mediterranean countries. The success rate of Tu rkish students and scientists in obtaining 
Marie Curie grants has increased. 
Turkey is participating in the Eurostars Article 169 Initiative , which aims to support 
cooperative research and development projects by SMEs working in th e fields of innovation 
and high technologies. 
As decided at the 18th meeting of the Supreme Council for Science and Technology in 
December 2008, a coordination committee was esta blished to encourage and facilitate 
mobility of international resear chers for long-term stays or permanent settlement in Turkey. 
Conclusion 
Overall, good progress has been achieved in  terms of preparation for EU accession and 
integration into the European Research Area. The success rate for Turkey’s participation in 
the 7th Framework Programme is increasing. Howe ver, there is still room for improvement. 
4.26. Chapter 26: Education and Culture 
As regards education, training and youth , there was good progress over the reporting 
period. 
The Lifelong Learning and Youth in Acti on Programmes continued to attract grant 
applications far exceeding the available budg et. For the decentralis ed actions alone, the 
Turkish National Agency re ceived, under the last budgeta ry period, more than 7000 
applications for projects and individual m obilities and signed more than 2000 grant 
agreements with beneficiaries. Wide geogr aphic coverage was once again achieved. The 
timely payment of Turkey's contribution enab led the programme so start smoothly. The law 
aiming at improving the administrative capac ity of the National Agency was adopted by 
Parliament. Turkey continued progress in rela tion to the EU common benchmarks for the 
Education and Training 2010 work progra mme and improved its performance on all 
benchmarks, including the participati on of adults in lifelong learning.  Participation in early 
childhood  education has also continued to increas e. Turkey has already reached the EU 
benchmark as regards the cumulative growth  since the year 2000 in the number of 
mathematics, science and tec hnology graduates, which was a bove the EU average. In the 
other areas, Turkey performs far below EU av erage, but has made significant progress since 
2000.  
The government promotion of girls´ educati on through country-wide campaigns contributed 
to a significant reduction of the gender gap in primary and secondary education. Between 
2007 and 2008, the gender gap in pr imary education has been ha lved to 1% point and has 
decreased by a fifth to 4 percentage points in  secondary education. However, high regional 
disparities remain in access to education, both for boys and - even more - for girls. 
EN 80   EN In the area of higher education, twenty-three ne w universities were established, although most 
of them need proper facilities and teaching st aff. Turkey is at an advanced stage of 
implementing the Bologna process. However, no procedures for recognition of prior learning 
are in place either at the nati onal or at the institutional/programme level. Future challenges 
include also the development of an external quality assurance system and widening the access 
to higher education. 
The Council of Higher Education decided to abolish the coefficient system, which was 
applied to the university entrance and placement exam scores for the graduates of vocational 
and technical secondary schools since 1998. The new system, to be in effect as from 2010, is 
expected to give graduates of vocational a nd technical secondary schools equal opportunities 
to enter higher education. This is likely to in crease the enrolment rate  in vocational secondary 
education. However, the quality of the vocati onal secondary education still needs to be 
improved despite the interventions in the last decade. 
The quality of the vocational secondary education still need s to be improved despite the 
interventions in the past decade. Under the coordination of the Vocational Qualifications 
Authority (VQA), centres for ‘sectoral occu pational standards development, skill and 
knowledge testing and certificatio n’ were established and star ted to develop occupational 
standards and infrastructure for knowledge and sk ills tests in cooperation with relevant NGOs 
and private-sector organisations. Turkey needs to  continue its efforts to establish a national 
qualifications system applying to all types of ed ucation, training and qu alifications and linked 
to the European Qualification Framework. 
There has also been limited progress in the area of culture . Turkey continued to participate in 
the Community’s Culture Programme. Preparations  for Istanbul as the 2010 European Capital 
of Culture also continued, de spite the resignations of key members of the executive 
committee. The schedule of events for 2010 has now been finalised.  
Turkey has signed, but not yet ratified, th e UNESCO Convention on the Protection and 
Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. 
Conclusion 
There has been some progress, in particular in the area of education, where the gender gap 
decreased further and Turkey continued to im prove its performance in relation to the EU 
common benchmarks. Turkey needs to sustain its efforts in the area of education and culture. 
4.27. Chapter 27: Environment 
Good progress can be reported on horizontal legislation . Turkey has ratified the Kyoto 
Protocol. The Environmental Impact Assessment  (EIA) Directive has been transposed to a 
large degree. However, procedures for public an d transboundary consultations have not been 
fully aligned. Some articles of the Environment Law, related to the exclusion of petroleum, 
geothermal resources and mine exploration from  environmental impact assessment, has been 
cancelled by the Constitutional Court in order to  improve environmental protection. Turkey is 
not a party to the Espoo and Aarhus Conventions. The Emissions Trading Directive has not been transposed. A greenhouse gas emission trad ing scheme has not yet been established. 
Transposition of the Strategic Environmental Asse ssment (SEA) Directive is at an early stage. 
There has been no progress on transposition of the acquis on environmental liability, public 
participation and public access to  environmental information. Nor has Turkey yet started 
negotiations on the memorandum of  understanding on its participation in the Community civil 
protection financial instrument. 
EN 81   EN Limited progress can be reported on air quality.  Turkey has adopted legislation  on the air 
quality framework legislation and daughter directives, but its alignment with the acquis  
remains to be confirmed. However, the administrative capacity for implementation of the directive on regional air quality is not sufficient. The clean ai r centre in Marmara has not yet 
been established. Some progress can be reporte d on the trade of ozone depleting substances 
and the legislation related to sulphur content of certain liquid fuels.  No progress has been 
made legislation related to the acquis  on emissions of volatile organic compounds and 
national emission ceilings. 
Limited progress can be reported in the field of waste management . New legislation on 
packaging waste was adopted. As regards implementation, there have been complaints by EU 
companies about the implications of the by-law, adopted last year, rest ricting use of certain 
hazardous substances in electrical and electr onic equipment. They argue that the new 
legislation is creating difficulties for trade.  No progress has been made regarding the 
directives on landfill and mining waste. 
There has been no progress in the area of water quality . The overall level of alignment 
remains low. The institutional framework for water management is not organised on a river 
basin basis. Transboundary cons ultations on water issues ar e at a very early stage. 
No progress can be reported on nature protection . The continuing loss of habitats is a cause 
for concern. The list of poten tial Natura 2000 sites has not yet been compiled. Adoption of a 
framework law on nature protection and implemen ting legislation on bi rds and habitats has 
again been postponed. A national biodiversity strategy and action plan remain to be adopted. 
Legislation in policy areas linked to nature  protection requires pa rticular attention. 
Limited progress can be reported regarding industrial pollution control and risk 
management . Turkey has aligned with some provision s of the Seveso II Directive and with 
the Large Combustion Plants and Waste Incinerati on Directives. However, the overall level of 
transposition and implementation capacity remain  low. Introduction of an integrated permit 
system is at an early stage. 
There has been good progress in the field of chemicals . The legislation on signing the 
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Po llutants has been adopted. By-laws were 
adopted on: the inventory and control of chem icals; compilation and distribution of safety 
data-sheets relating to danger ous substances and preparati ons; restriction of production, 
placing on the market and use of certain da ngerous substances and preparations; and 
classification, packaging and la belling of dangerous substances  and preparations. However, 
the overall level of transposition remains low. The capacity is insufficient for effective 
implementation. 
No progress can be reported on genetically modified organisms . 
Alignment in the field of noise is well advanced. Preparation of noise maps and action plans 
is at an early stage. 
Some progress has been made in the area of administrative capacity . A by-law was adopted 
to enhance environmental protection by defining procedures and principles for environmental 
inspectorates, environmental management depa rtments and certified inspection companies to 
increase the effectiveness of the environmental inspection system. However, although the Directorate-General for State H ydraulic Works has now been attached to the Ministry of the 
Environment and Forestry, its objectives have s till not been streamlined with those of the 
ministry. No progress has been made towards establishing a national environment agency. 
EN 82   EN Responsibility for nature protection is not cl early defined between the various competent 
institutions. Administrative capacity needs fu rther strengthening, including coordination 
between the relevant authorities at all levels . Mainstreaming environmental protection into 
other policy areas and ensuring that new i nvestments comply with the environmental acquis 
are at an early stage. Some of the existing legislation, such as the Mining Law, the Law 
establishing the Directorate-General for State Hydraulic Works and the tourism legislation, 
are still a major concern for natural areas. 
Conclusion 
Turkey has made progress in the field of ch emicals and on horizontal legislation by signing 
the Kyoto Protocol. Some progress can be repo rted on waste, air quality, industrial pollution 
and risk management and chemicals. Howeve r, the overall level of alignment remains 
insufficient. Turkey has made no progress in th e areas of water quality, nature protection and 
GMOs. Non-establishment of fully fledge d EIA procedures is hampering further 
improvements in implementation and en forcement of the EIA Directive. 
4.28. Chapter 28: Consumer and Health Protection 
Turkey has made little progress in the field of consumer protection .  
The consumer movement continues to be we ak. Cooperation and partnership between the 
existing NGOs are limited and NGOs suffer from l ack of funds. Their re lationship with State 
bodies is weak. They are not sufficiently  taken into consideration by the government as a 
stakeholder. Preparations in this area are underway. 
Little progress has been made on product safety-related issues . The Regulation on market 
surveillance of products has been amended in or der to harmonise the sa fety testing practices 
of different market surveillance authorities.  However, preventing measures against unsafe 
products are applied at minimum. Effectiveness of market surveillance activities need to be 
increased and the concept of risky products need to be studied in the public opinion. The revision of the general product safety legislatio n is outstanding. This is a key element for the 
accession negotiations on this chapter. Pr eparations in this area are on track. 
In the area of non-safety-related issues , drafting of the consumer  protection law has been 
finalised . This is a key element for the accession ne gotiations on this chapter. The Regulation 
on the principles and implementing rules for commercial advertisements and promotion was 
amended to prevent misleading and confusing advertisements and regulate campaigns to 
promote bank credits. However, the number of legally qualified staff in the Ministry of 
Industry and Trade continues to lag behind. Ther e is no follow-up to decisions by the advisory 
Consumer Council. Courts a nd arbitration committees do not always interpret and 
comprehend consumer legislation consistently. Sp ecialisation of the arbitration committees is 
still low. Overall, coordina tion and cooperation between rela ted stakeholders is neither 
sufficient nor consistent. Nevertheless, pr eparations in this area are on track. 
In the field of public health , Turkey has made some progress.  
Good progress has been made in the area of tobacco . Legal alignment with the acquis 
concerning tobacco products, especially as rega rds tar yields and oral tobacco, was completed. 
This is a key element for the accession negotiati ons on this chapter. Complete alignment with 
the acquis  on tobacco advertising will be achieve d through a by-law. Im plementation of the 
tobacco acquis  is advanced and administ rative capacity is being bui lt up. Turkey has signed 
EN 83   EN on 29 May 2009 a licence agreement to use EU pi ctorial warnings on tobacco products. In 
addition, Turkey's efforts towards smoke-free environments resulted in a comprehensive 
smoking ban in bars, pubs, hotels, clubs, ca fes and restaurants as of 19 July 2009. 
Preparations in this area are advanced. 
In the field of communicable diseases , Turkey has made some progress. With regard to 
enforcement of the legislation, the field epidemiologists were trained on early detection and 
control measures on specific diseases. Progress was made on establishm ent of an electronic 
network by providing technical training and in stalling equipment in clinical microbiology 
laboratories. An early warning and response system  for intestinal diseases has been developed 
on a trial basis with a view to extension to the rest of the country. Some progress has been 
made on alignment by amending the national strategic plan for 2009-2013 on strengthening 
surveillance and control of communicable dis eases, which lays down the principles and 
procedures for the administrative structures to that end. These include committees and 
commissions that will serve as planning, monito ring and evaluation bodies to ensure efficient 
coordination and implementation of control meas ures and surveillance. No progress can be 
reported on establishment of a Na tional Institute of Public Hea lth. A draft law on this subject 
has yet to be adopted. Preparati ons in this area are well on track. 
Turkey has made good progress as regards blood . A by-law laid down the standards and 
specifications for a quality system for blood coll ection, storage and tr ansfusion units. Legal 
alignment in this field is advancing well, but  the administrative capacity for implementation 
of the legislation needs furt her strengthening. Preparations  in this area are on track. 
No progress can be repo rted in the field of tissues and cells . Preparations to make TÜRKÖK, 
the National Cell Coordination Centre, operationa l are underway. Preparations in this area 
have started. 
Little progress can be reported on mental health . A joint working group has been established 
together with the Ministry of Health and So cial Services and the Child Protection Agency. 
The group is working with the WHO on a co mmunity-based service delivery model. 
However, Turkey still has limited resources in the field of mental health. Establishment of 
community-based services as an alternative to institutionalisation is crucial. Specific efforts 
are needed to provide for health care tailore d to children and young people in this field. The 
mental health action plan has yet to  be finalised. Preparations in th is area are at an early stage. 
Some progress can be reported in the area of socio-economic determinants of health . The 
preliminary results of the 2008 Turkey Demogra phic and Health Survey  revealed that the 
over-65 age group has reached its highest level ever. The fertility rate has dropped to 2.15 
from 4.33 between 1978 and2008. In terms of acce ss to health servi ces, 92% of mothers 
received some antenatal care during their last pr egnancy and 90% of births  were delivered in a 
hospital or health centre. Progr ess can be reported in cancer  control. The national cancer 
control programme has set clear milestone s for 2009-2015 on preventing and fighting breast 
and cervical cancers. It envisages screening 70% of the population by 2012. However, the age 
to start cervical cance r screening (as proposed in the national screen ing standards) does not 
match the age range advocated in the Counc il Recommendation on cancer screening. In 
addition to screening standards on breast and cervical cancer, na tional screening standards for 
colorectal cancer have also been published and community-based screening has started. The 
National Cancer Institute has not yet been es tablished. Preparations in these areas are 
ongoing. 
EN 84   EN Conclusion 
Overall, some progress has been made on consum er and health protecti on. A satisfactory level 
of legal alignment has been reach ed. In the area of consumer pr otection, more efforts remain 
necessary, in particular on non-safety-related issues and to ensure due enforcement of 
consumer protection in general. In  the area of public health, so me progress can be reported, in 
particular on tobacco control and on st rengthening the administrative capacity on 
communicable diseases. Preparations are unde rway to complete alignment with the acquis  on 
blood and blood components, and tissues and cel ls. However, the institutional capacity 
necessary for legislative approximation and implem entation in the field of public health is not 
fully in place. 
4.29. Chapter 29: Customs Union 
Some progress can be re ported in the field of customs legislation . Turkey adopted a new 
customs law and aligned its legislation furthe r with the modernised EC Customs Code. The 
Turkish Customs Administration now needs to a dopt implementing rules in order to make the 
law applicable. The legislation on IPR has been  improved although it is not yet fully aligned 
with the acquis . The law on free zones was amended to include free-trade zones in Turkey’s 
customs territory. Nevertheless, alignment with the acquis  is still incomplete, because 
operations in free-trade zones are not fully su bject to customs procedures and the new law 
stipulates exemptions that do not exist in the acquis  for goods that can be consumed or used 
in the free zones. No progress can be repor ted on Turkey’s duty relief legislation, which 
provides for duty-free shops at entry points and is not fully in line with Turkey’s Customs 
Union obligations. Implementing provisions have  been issued on post-clearance examination 
and control of risky procedures. The inward processing arrangements were aligned with the 
EU acquis , by prohibiting drawback in connection w ith importation of materials originating 
from third countries for production of processe d agricultural products to  be exported to the 
EU. 
Some progress was made on administrative and operational capacity . Turkey’s 
enforcement capacity was strengthened by purchasing equipment (scanners) and recruiting officers. Nevertheless, use of the risk-analysi s system could be further improved and physical 
checks are still performed too of ten. Particular efforts are neces sary to enforce intellectual 
property rights for imports and exports, since Turkey remains one of the main sources of 
counterfeit products seized by EU customs authorities.  
The import and export declarations procedure is fully automated. Progress has been made 
towards IT interconnectivity with EU systems, as projects to develop the new computerised 
transit system and tariff-related systems (T ARIC and the quota and surveillance systems) 
have been advancing. Turkey has continued to increase the leve l of automation of the customs 
administration, despite the absence of a formal IT strategy.  
A protocol on exchanges of pre-shipment information was signed between Turkey and 
Russia. Customs cooperation ag reements with Syria and South Africa were ratified. 
‘Customs Union’ is one of the eight chapters  covered by the conclusions on Turkey adopted 
by the Council (General Affairs and Extern al Relations) on 11 December 2006 and endorsed 
by the European Council on 14/15 December 2006. As long as restrictions remain in place on 
the free movement of goods carri ed by vessels and aircraft regist ered in Cyprus or whose last 
EN 85   EN port of call was in Cyprus, Turkey will not be in a position fully to implement the acquis  
relating to this chapter.  
Conclusion 
Turkey has achieved a high level of  alignment in the field of cust oms legislation, thanks to its 
Customs Union with the EU. Neverthele ss, further alignment with the EU acquis  is still 
needed in some areas, such as free-trade zone s, intellectual property rights and customs duty 
relief. Duty-free sales of products covered by th e Customs Union at entry points have to be 
abolished. Turkey has made progress on ad ministrative capacity, but efforts would be 
required to make greater use of  simplified procedures and risk -based controls  in order to 
reduce the number of physical controls and release human resources whilst facilitating 
legitimate trade. The fight against counterfeit goods remains a cause for concern. Particular 
efforts to enforce intellectua l, industrial and commercial property rights are important. 
4.30. Chapter 30: External Relations 
Limited progress can be reported in the field of the common commercial policy . 
Turkey’s alignment with the EC’s common co mmercial policy is high. However, since 1 
January 2009, the communiqués on standardisation in foreign trade as part of Turkey’s new 
import arrangements placed restrictions on goods or iginating from third countries but in free 
circulation in the EU and which are exported to Turkey under ATR certificates. Such goods 
are subject to conformity assessment proced ures based on documentation or physical checks 
at customs posts, hence delaying and inhibitin g access to the Turkish market. Furthermore, 
Turkey adopted legislation requiring importe d textile and clothing products to obtain a 
certificate from the Turkish Textil e Exporters Association. These two measures have distorted 
bilateral trade relations, in addition to the unresolved infringements of the Customs Union 
legislation. Moreover, the increas ed use of the erga-omnes safeguard instrument over the last 
years negatively affects trade relations with the EU. Very limited progress can be reported on 
alignment of the Turkish general system of  preferences (GSP). The geographic and product 
coverage of the Turkish system still need s to be aligned with the EU’s GSP. 
The level of coordination with the EU within the World Trade Organisa tion has, by and large, 
been satisfactory, although there is still room for improvement in some areas of the Doha 
Development Agenda, notably the agriculture ne gotiations and trade facilitation. To a certain 
extent, the same applies to Tu rkey’s positions in the OECD.  
There has been some progress w ith medium- and long-term expor t credits to companies. No 
progress has been made on dual-use goods controls. 
No further progress can be reported on bilateral agreements with third countries . The level 
of alignment with the EC’s bilateral agreemen ts remained satisfactory. Turkey signed free-
trade agreements with Montenegro, Serbia and Chile. 
Turkey made some progress in the fields of development policy and humanitarian aid . The 
amount of official development aid granted by Turkey totalled some €557 million in 2008, 
which is 0.1 % of GDP. The level of alignment has remained satisfactory in this field. 
‘External relations’ is one of the eight chapte rs covered by the conclusions on Turkey adopted 
by the Council (General Affairs and Extern al Relations) on 11 December 2006 and endorsed 
by the European Council on 14/15 December 2006. As long as restrictions remain in place on 
the free movement of goods carri ed by vessels and aircraft regist ered in Cyprus or whose last 
EN 86   EN port of call was in Cyprus, Turkey will not be in a position fully to implement the acquis 
relating to this chapter. 
Conclusion 
Although Turkey has achieved a high level of a lignment in this area, owing to the Customs 
Union, it has not completed alignment, particularly  with regard to coordination of positions in 
the WTO. A number of longstanding trade irritant s remain unresolved and continue to disrupt 
proper functioning of the Customs Union. 
4.31. Chapter 31: Foreign, security and defence policy 
The regular political dialogue  between the EU and Turkey c ontinued to cover international 
issues of common interest, including Iraq, Iran , the South Caucasus, Pakistan, Afghanistan, 
the Middle-East peace process and the Balkans. (Concerning neighbourly re lations with other 
enlargement countries and Member States, s ee the section on the political criteria.) 
Concerning relations with  Iraq, the cross-border terrorist activities of the PKK, listed on the 
EU list of terrorist organisations, continue to pose a security challenge to Turkey. Turkey 
maintained close official contacts with Iraqi au thorities, including with the Kurdistan regional 
government. Overall, bilateral relations contin ued to improve. High-level bilateral meetings 
intensified. The Iraqi President attended the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul in March 
2009. The Turkish President paid an official visit to Iraq in March, the fi rst of its kind for 33 
years. Turkey played an important role in e fforts to ease tensions between Iraq and Syria. 
As for relations with Iran,  Turkey sees Iran as an importa nt partner in th e region, not only 
bilaterally, but also with respect to regional stability. Turkey supports the EU position on 
Iran’s nuclear programme. During a meeting with hi s Iranian counterpart in Tehran in March, 
the Turkish President called for Iran to play a constructive role in the region and – on the 
nuclear dispute – to seize the opportunities  offered by the international community. 
As regards relations with the Southern Caucasus , following the visit by the Turkish President 
to Armenia in September 2008, the two countries  increased the number of working and high-
level bilateral meetings and moved significantly towards normalising their bilateral relations. In August, the two parties agre ed to complete domestic politic al consultations within six 
weeks with a view to preparin g the signature and ratification of two protocols addressing the 
establishment of diplomatic relations and the development of bilateral relations. During the reporting period Turkey kept its la nd border with Armenia closed.  
Turkey continued its co nstructive role in the Middle-East peace process . Until December 
2008, Turkey mediated indirect talks between Israel and Syria, which halted following the 
Gaza conflict in January 2009. Turkey, has expr essed its willingness to continue mediation 
efforts, but the parties have not agreed to resume talks. During the Gaza conflict Turkey 
expressed strong concerns on Israel's military oper ations, and played an active role to reach a 
ceasefire. Turkey continues to co ntribute to stabilisation in Lebanon,  through diplomatic 
activities and its participation in UNIFIL. 
Turkey continued its valuable efforts to bring Afghanistan  and Pakistan closer. Turkey 
remains engaged in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and is 
contributing to civil and military capacity-build ing. Turkey convened a nu mber of trilateral 
summits with Afghanistan and Pakistan, wh ich have sometimes also included other 
neighbouring countries, and has offered to host the fourth Regional Conference on 
EN 87   EN Afghanistan (RECCA) next year. Furthermore, Tu rkey has been a regular participant in the 
Special Envoys’ meetings (with US a nd European envoys to the region).  
Turkey is continuing to intensify its relations with African countries, including the process of 
opening 15 new embassies in Africa. Following Pa rliament's authorisation in February 2009, 
Turkey sent a vessel to the Gulf of Aden to jo in the UN-led internationa l anti-piracy coalition. 
Turkey’s broad alignment with common foreign and security policy  (CFSP) statements, 
declarations and démarches continued. Turkey aligned itself with 99 CF SP declarations from 
a total of 128 declarations adopted by the EU during the re porting period. Turkey did not 
follow the EU position expressed in statements c oncerning some Africa-related issues and in 
declarations concerning for example Uz bekistan, Syria, Iran and Yemen.  
No particular developments can be reported as regards restrictive measures . 
Concerning non-proliferation  of weapons of mass destruction, Turkey is party to all the 
existing international arrangements. 
Turkey has not aligned itself with the EU position on membership of certain suppliers’ 
groups, such as the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and 
Dual-Use Goods and Technologies (for dual-use goods, see Chapter  30 – External relations). 
With regard to cooperation with international  organisations , Turkey has not signed the statute 
of the International Criminal Court. Turkey wi ll continue holding a non-p ermanent seat in the 
UN Security Council until 2010. The second forum of the UN-backed Alliance of 
Civilisations, a 2005 joint initia tive by Turkey and Spain, was held in Istanbul in April. 
There have been no particular developments with regard to  security measures (classified 
information) . 
Within the framework of the European security and defence policy (ESDP), Turkey is 
continuing to contribute to the EU-led m ilitary mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina 
(EUFOR/ALTHEA). Turkey is also contribu ting to EUPM, the EU-led police mission in 
Bosnia and Herzegovina and to the EULEX mi ssion in Kosovo. Turkey wishes to enhance 
cooperation on ESDP, while stressin g its discontent with its status  within this framework, due 
to the stalemate over conclusion of a bilateral security agreement with the EU and over the 
administrative arrangements with the European Defence Agency.  
However, in the area of EU-NATO relations be yond the ‘Berlin plus’ arrangements, Turkey 
continues to object to EU-NAT O cooperation which would invol ve all EU Member States. 
This creates problems for EU-NATO cooperation, notably in the contex t of civilian ESDP 
missions. 
Conclusion  
Turkey’s alignment with the EU’s common fore ign and security policy continued. Turkey has 
continued to develop a positive role contributing to stabilisation in regions such as the South Caucasus and the Middle East. Turkey has stre ngthened its diplomatic relations with Iraq, 
including contacts with the Ku rdish regional government. Dipl omatic efforts to normalise 
relations with Armenia have moved forward significantly. 
EN 88   EN Turkey is contributing substa ntially to ESDP and seeking greater involvement in ESDP 
activities. However, Turkey objects to EU- NATO cooperation which would involve all EU 
Member States. Turkey has not aligned with the EU position on membership of the Wassenaar Arrangement. 
4.32. Chapter 32: Financial Control 
Limited progress has been made in the area of public internal financial control (PIFC), 
where alignment with the acquis  is advanced. The current primary and implementing 
legislation was amended in 2008 and now meets the basic requirements to implement PIFC. A 
number of pieces of implementing legislat ion were approved in the course of 2009
54. The 
Ministry of Finance has now re gistered 803 internal auditors  in 209 administrations, all 
trained and certified. More fi nancial officers have been em ployed in budget spending units 
and there are now 461 expert financial officer s in the central government administration55.  
However, the 2002 PIFC policy paper and the related action plan remain to be updated, 
especially in relation to the roles of internal  audit and inspection and of the Internal Audit 
Coordination Board and the central harmoni sation unit (CHU) for internal audits. The 
location of the CHU still has to be decided to ensure optimum development of the public 
internal audit profession. Staffi ng of internal audit units need s to be addressed. The steering 
role of the Ministry of Finance in the re form process must still be strengthened. 
No progress can be reported on external audit . The Law on External Audit, extending the 
scope of the Turkish Court of  Auditors (CoA) and aligning the CoA with the relevant 
international standards, was sent to parl iament in 2005. It has yet to be adopted. 
There has been little progress on the protection of the EU’s financial interests . Concerning 
assessments and investigations of suspected fraud cases, cooperation between the European 
Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the Prime Ministry  Inspection Board (PMI B) can be regarded 
as good. However, a formal appointment of th e PMIB as Anti-Fraud Cooperation Structure 
(AFCOS) is yet outstanding and its operational independence has to be further developed. A 
legal basis in national law for AFCOS is still required, involving not only the PMIB but also establishment of a network able  to operate across th e board to address prevention, detection 
and follow-up issues. 
There have been no developments with regard to the implementation of the Convention on the 
Protection of the European Communities’ Fina ncial Interests (PIF Convention) and its 
Protocols. Monitoring by the Turkish authoritie s of actual applicat ion of the Convention 
remains insufficient.  
Significant progress can be reported on protection of the euro against counterfeiting . 
‘New’ was removed from ‘new Tu rkish lira’ with effect from 1 January 2009. As part of the 
re-minting exercise, Turkey redesigned Turkish coins to eliminate similarities with euro coins. However, institutions serving as the national analysis centre, national coin analysis centre and national central office have not yet been official ly appointed to ensure institutionalisation and 
                                                
 
54 Action plan guide for harmonisation with public internal control standards (4 February 2009); 
Principles and procedures for cancellation of public internal auditor certificates (13 January 2009); and 
communiqué on procedures and principles regarding selection of internal auditor candidates (5 April 2009). 
55 Also 231 candidates who have passed the examination for positions as expert financial services 
assistants are entitled to be appointed in strategy development units (SDUs) of public administrations. 
EN 89   EN sustainable cooperation with EU institutions. Sanc tions against credit institutions which fail to 
withdraw counterfeits from circulation and against medals and tokens similar to euro coins are 
missing from the legislation. 
Conclusion 
Overall, limited progress can be reported in th e area of financial control, in which alignment 
is fairly advanced. Legislation implementing the public financial management and control 
(PFMC) law is in place, but a number of amendments relating to internal control are still missing and revision of the PIFC policy paper and action plan has not been completed. The External Audit Law, which would bring external audits into line with relevant international 
standards, has not yet been adopted. The anti-fra ud cooperation structure remains to be 
developed. In a very significant development,  Turkey has redesigned and re-minted Turkish 
coins in order to eliminate similarities with euro coins. 
4.33. Chapter 33: Financial and Budgetary Provisions 
Further progress was made in this chapter. Th e basic principles and institutions underlying 
Turkey's customs policy, VAT system and nati onal accounts and GNI calculations are largely 
in line with the EU’s own resources system. Alignment with the relevant chapters of the 
acquis (on customs, taxation, statistics and financia l control) has continued, in particular as 
regards the European System of Accounts (ESA 95).  
The own resources acquis  is directly applicable upon me mbership and therefore does not 
require transposition. However, coordination structures and im plementing rules need to be 
established to ensure correct calculation, coll ection, payment and control of own resources 
and reporting to the EU for implementati on of the own resources rules. Stronger 
administrative capacity  will also be needed, particularly in the areas of agriculture, customs, 
taxation, statistics and financial control. Effectiv e instruments have to be established to fight 
customs duty and VAT fraud in order to pr otect the EU’s financial interests. 
Conclusion 
The acquis  in this area is direc tly applicable upon accession. Tu rkey's alignment with the 
basic principles and institutions of the acquis is well advanced. In due course, however, 
effective coordination structures , administrative capacity and impl ementing rules will need to 
be established. Preparations in this area are at an early stage. 
 
EN 90   EN STATISTICAL ANNEX  
STATISTICAL DATA (as of 14 September 2009)            
Turkey            
            
Basic data Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
Population (thousand)  65 787 66 889 67 896 68 838 69 770 70 692 71 610 72 520 69 689b 70 586 
Total area of the country (km²) 1) 783 562 783 562 783 562 783 562 783 562 783 562 783 562 783 562 783 562 783 562 
            
National accounts Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
Gross domestic product (GDP) (million national currency)  104 596 166 658 240 224 350 476 454 781 559 033 648 932 758 391 843 178 950  098 
GDP (million euro)  233 424 289 446 219 816 243 570 269 322 314 304 387 655 419 013 472 879 501 109 
GDP (euro per capita)  3 684 4 504 3 375 3 690 4 027 4 640 5 652 6 036 6 731b 7 050 
GDP (in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS)  per capita)  7 000.0 7 600.0 7 000.0 7 000.0 7 000.0 8 100.0 9 100.0 10 100.0e 11 100b 11 400 .0e 
SI: GDP (in PPS per capita, EU-27=100)  39.1 39.9 35.5 34.3 33.9 37.3 40.4 42.5 44.7b 45.5e 
SI: Growth rate of GDP (national currency, at constant prices, % change on previous year)  -3.4 6.8 -5.7 6.2 5.3 9.4 8.4 6.9 4. 7 0.9 
SI: Employment growth (national accounts,  % change on previous year)  2.1  -0.4e  -1.0e  -1.8e  -1.0e 3.0e 1.4e 1.3e 1.1e 1.8e 
Labour productivity growth: GDP growth per person employed (% ch ange on previous year)  -5.4 7.2e  -4.7e 8.1e 6.3e 6.1e 6.9e 5. 5e 3.3e  -0.9e 
SI: Unit labour cost growth (national accounts, % change on previous year)  26.4 : : : : : : : : : 
SI: Labour productivity (GDP in PPS per person employed, EU-27=100)  48.8 53.1e 48.9e 48.9e 49.5e 53.8e 57.9e 61.8e 62.9e 64.0e  
Gross value added by main sectors (%)                      
Agriculture  10.7 10.8 9.4 11.4 11.1 10.7 10.6 9.4 8.5 8.5 
Industry  25.4 24.6 23.8 23.2 23.5 23.0 23.0 22.9 22.3 21.9 
Construction  5.6 5.4 4.7 4.6 4.5 5.0 5.0 5.4 5.4 5.2 
Services  58.3 59.2 62.1 60.8 60.8 61.3 61.3 62.4 63.7 64.4 
Final consumption expenditure, as  a share of GDP (%)  80.7 82.2 80.8 80.8 83.5 83.2 83.5 82.9 83.7 82.6 
Gross fixed capital formation, as a share of GD P (%)  18.9 20.4 15.9 16.7 17.0 20.3 21.0 22.3 21.8 19.9 
Changes in inventories, as a share of GDP (%)  0.2 0.4 -0.9 0.9 0.6 -1.0 -1.0 -0.2 -0.4 1.9 
Exports of goods and services, relative to GDP (%)  19.4 20.1 27.4 25.2 23.0 23.6 21.9 22.7 22.3 23.9 
Imports of goods and services, relative to GDP (%)  19.3 23.1 23.3 23.6 24.0 26.2 25.4 27.6 27.5 28.4 
            
Industry Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
Industrial production volume index (2000=100)  : 100.0 91.3 99.9 108.7 119.3 128.7 136.3 143.6 140.5 
            
Inflation rate Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
SI: Consumer price index (CPI), (tot al, % change on previous year)  64.9 54.9 54.4 45.0 25.3 10.6 8.2 9.6 8.8 10.4 
            
Balance of payments Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
Balance of payments: current account total (million euro)  -868 -10 741 4 198 -662 -6 643 -11 601 -17 794 -25 401 -27 547 -28 233  
Balance of payments current account: trade balance (million euro)   -9 168 -23 882 -3 755 -6 758 -11 925 -18 278 -26 516 -32 607 -3 4 079 -36 080 
 
EN 91   EN Balance of payments current account: net services (million euro)  7 039 12 316 10 201 8 339 9 292 10 288 12 276 11 015 10 112 1 1 906 
Balance of payments current account: net income (million euro)  -3 319 -4 333 -5 583 -4 816 -4 912 -4 509 -4 722 -5 329 -5 212 -5 423 
Balance of payments current account: net current transfe rs (million euro)  4 580 5 158 3 335 2 573 902 898 1 169 1 520 1 632 1 364 
of which government transfers (million euro)  330 221 224 526 257 252 485 495 590 495 
Net foreign direct investment (FDI) (million euro)  129 121 3 188 1 013 1 107 1 612 7 208 15 184 14 665 10 615 
Foreign direct investment (FDI) abroad (million euro)   -605 -942 -555 -185 -441 -627 -855 -736 -1 537 -1 758 
of which FDI of the reporting economy in EU- 27 countries (million euro)  : : : : : : : : : 0 
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the reporting economy (million euro)  735 1 063 3 743 1 198 1 548 2 239 8 063 15 920 16 202 12 373 
of which FDI of EU-27 countries in the reporting economy (million euro)  : : : : : : : : : 2 
            
Public finance Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
General government deficit/surplus, relative to GDP (% )  : : -33.0 -12.9 -11.3 -4.5 -0.6 -0.1 -1.2 : 
SI: General government debt, relative to GDP (%)  : 42.9 77.6 73.7 67.3 59.2 52.3 46.1 39.4 : 
            
Financial indicators Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
Gross foreign debt of the whole economy, relative to GDP (%)  41.7 44.7 57.7 56.2 47.3 41.2 35.2 39.4 38.4 : 
Gross foreign debt of the whole economy, relative to total exports (%)  214.3 222.4 210.4 222.8 205.5 175.0 161.1 173.7 172.1 :  
Money supply: M1 (banknotes, coins, overnight deposits,  million euro) 2) 8 635 12 205 8 965 9 291 13 188 15 762 38 978 38 616 4 4 644 39 927 
Money supply: M2 (M1 plus deposits with maturity up to two years, million euro) 3) 41 324 51 591 37 253 36 325 47 398 59 415 15 0 152 160 193 201 366 203 840 
Money supply: M3 (M2 plus marketable instruments, million euro) 4) 42 950 54 207 38 973 38 041 50 488 63 411 164 302 171 832 215 308 214 473 
Total credit by monetary financial institutions to resi dents (consolidated) (million euro)  30 856 44 492 26 977 20 035 29 025 43 328 83 772 100 358 140 157 138 301 
Interest rates: day-to-day money rate, per annum (%)  79.8 56.0 95.5 49.6 36.1 22.0 15.1 15.8 17.3 16.1 
Lending interest rate (one year), per annum (%) 5) 86.1 51.2 78.8 53.7 42.8 29.1 23.8 19.0 20.1 19.7 
Deposit interest rate (one year), per annum (%) 6) 85.5 38.2 62.2 53.9 40.3 23.6 19.9 21.5 22.3 22.9 
euro exchange rates: average of period - 1 euro = … national  currency  0.447 0.575 1.102 1.440 1.695 1.777 1.677 1.809 1.789e 1 .896 
Effective exchange rate index (2000=100)  121.4e 100.0 46.8e 40.1e 40.4e 39.3e 43.6e 39.1e 44.5e : 
Value of reserve assets (includi ng gold) (million euro)  24 253 25 331 22 660 26 949 28 134 27 654 44 277 48 116 52 058 52 442 
            
External trade Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
Value of imports: all goods, all partners (million euro)  38 351 59 444 46 256 54 478 60 163 78 528 93 410 111 096 123 959 136 4 38 
Value of exports: all goods, all partners (million euro)  24 964 30 182 35 062 38 137 41 679 50 891 58 849 68 020 78 126 89 522  
Trade balance: all goods, all partners (million euro)  -13 387 - 29 263 -11 194 -16 341 -18 484 -27 637 -34 560 -43 076 -45 833 -46 9 17 
Terms of trade (export price index / import price index,  1998=100) 7) 112.6 103.0 100.7 100.1 100.0 102.0 99.3 96.0 103.5 96.9 
Share of exports to EU-27 countries in value of total exports (%)  58.0 56.4 56.0 56.6 58.0 57.9 56.4 56.1 56.3 47.9 
Share of imports from EU-27 countries in value of total imports (%)  55.4 52.4 47.9 49.8 50.6 49.3 45.2 42.6 40.3 37.0 
            
Demography Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
Natural growth rate: natural change (births minus deaths) (per 1000 inhabitants)  15.4 14.1 13.7 13.5 13.2 12.9 12.6 12.6p 12.8  : 
Infant mortality rate: deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births  34.9 31.5 28.4 25.6 23.1 20.9 18.9 17.5 1 6.7 16.0 
 
EN 92   EN Life expectancy at birth: male (years)  68.7 69.0 69.4 69.8 70.1 70.5 70.9 71.1 71.2 71.4 
Life expectancy at birth: female (years)  72.8 73.1 73.5 73.9 74.3 74.6 75.0 75.3 75.6 75.8 
            
Labour market Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
Economic activity rate (15-64): share of  population aged 15-64 that is economically active (%)  55.2 52.4 52.3 52.3 51.1 51.5 5 1.3 51.1 49.8 50.6 
SI: Employment rate (15-64): share of population aged 15-64 that  is in employment (%)  50.8 48.9 47.8 46.7 45.5 46.1 45.9 45.9 44.6 44.9 
Share of male population aged 15-64 that is in employment (%)  72.7 71.7 69.3 66.9 65.9 67.9 68.2 68.0 66.8 66.6 
Share of female population aged 15-64 that is in employment (%)  28.9 26.2 26.3 26.6 25.2 24.3 23.7 23.8 22.8 23.5 
SI: Employment rate of older workers (55-64): share of population aged 55-64 that is in 
employment (%)  39.3 36.4 35.9 35.3 32.7 33.1 30.8 30.1 27.1 27.4 
Employment by main sectors (%)                      
Agriculture  40.2 36.0 37.6 34.9 33.9 34.0 29.5 27.3 23.5 23.7 
Industry  17.2 17.7 17.5 18.5 18.2 18.3 19.4 19.7 20.8 21.0 
Construction  6.2 6.3 5.2 4.5 4.6 4.7 5.3 5.7 5.9 5.9 
Services  36.5 40.0 39.7 42.1 43.4 43.0 45.8 47.3 49.8 49.5 
SI: Unemployment rate: share of labour force that is unemployed (%)  7.7 6.5 8.4 10.3 10.5 10.3 10.3 9.9 10.3 11.0 
Share of male labour force that is unemployed (%)  7.7 6.6 8.7 10.7 10.7 10.5 10.3 9.7 10.0 10.7 
Share of female labour force that is unemployed (%)  7.6 6.3 7.5 9.4 10.1 9.7 10.3 10.3 11.0 11.6 
Unemployment rate of persons < 25 years: shar e of labour force aged <25 that is unemployed 
(%)  15.0 13.1 16.2 19.2 20.5 19.7 19.3 18.7 20.0 20.5 
SI: Long-term unemployment rate: share of l abour force that is long-term unemployed (%)  2.1 1.3 1.7 2.9 2.5 4.0 4.1 3.5 3.1 2. 9 
            
Social cohesion Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
Average nominal monthly wages and salaries (nati onal currency)  : : : 372.1 492.0 529.4 595.4 : : : 
Index of real wages and salaries (index of nom inal wages and salaries divided by the CPI) 
(2000=100)  : : : : : : : : : : 
SI: Early school-leavers: share of popul ation aged 18-24 having not completed upper 
secondary education and not currently in education or training (%)  : 58.8 57.3 54.8 53.0 54.6 51.3 50.0 47.8 46.1 
            
Standard of living Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
Number of passenger cars per 1000 population 8) 61.9 66.1 66.8 66.8 67.4 76.4 80.6 84.7 92.9b 96.3 
Number of subscriptions to cellular mobile telephone se rvices per 1000 population  116.8 225.2 269.5 338.8 399.7 491.0 609.0 72 6.2 889.3b 932.5 
            
Infrastructure Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
Density of railway network (lines in operation, per 1000 km²)  11.1 11.1 11.1 11.0 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.1 
Length of motorways (thousand km)  1.7 1.8 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.8 2.0 2.0 2.0 
            
Innovation and research Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
SI: Spending on human resources (public expenditure on education) relative to GDP (%)  2.7 2.6 2.3 2.8 3.0 3.0 3.1 3.0 3.3 3.0 
SI: Gross domestic expenditure on research & development, relative to GDP (%)  0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.7 : 
SI: Percentage of households who have Internet access at home (%)  : : : : : 7.0 8.0 : 18.9 24.5 
            
Environment Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
SI: Total greenhouse gases emissions, CO2 equivalent (tons, 1990=100)  151.0 165.0 154.0 159.0 168.0 174.0 184.0 196.0 219.0 : 
 
EN 93   EN  
SI = Structural indicators 
: = not available 
p = provisional value 
e = estimated value b = break in series 
1) Including lakes. 
2) Before December 2005, M1 included currency in circulation and demand desposits (TRY). From December 2005 onwards, M1 include s currency in circulation and demand deposits (TRY, FX). 
3) Before December 2005, M2 included M1 and time deposits (TRY).  From December 2005 onwards, M2 includes M1 and time deposits ( TRY, FX). 
4) Before December 2005, M3 included M2 and official deposits (t ime/demand). From December 2005 onwards, M3 includes M2, funds received from repo transactions  and money market funds (B 
type liquid funds). 5) Averages of monthly data, lending to  enterprises for more than one year.  
6) Averages of monthly data, up to one year or longer. 
7) Calculated on the basis of ISIC Re v.3, base year 2003 as Paasche index. 
8) From 2004 onwards, data source is the General Directorate of Public Security. 
9) Excluding the number of buffaloes. SI: Energy intensity of the economy (kg of oil equivalent per 1000 euro GDP 2004)  290.9 295.2 293.2 286.8 291.5 279.2 267.1 27 3.3 282.0 : 
SI: Share of renewable energy in el ectricity consumption (%)  29.5 24.3 19.1 25.6 25.2 30.9 24.7 25.5 19.1 17.3p 
SI: Road freight transport as a share of total in land freight transport (modal split of freight 
transport) (%)  94.8 94.3 95.3 95.5 94.6 94.4 94.4e 94.3 : : 
            
Energy Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
Primary production of all energy products (thousand TOE)  27 659 26 047 24 576 24 281 23 783 24 332 24 549 26 580 27 453 : 
Primary production of crude oil (thousand TOE)  3 087 2 887 2 679 2 564 2 494 2 389 2 395 2 284 2 241 : 
Primary production of hard coal and lignite (thousand TO E)  13 284 12 487 12 282 11 360 10 777 10 532 11 213 13 087 14 797 : 
Primary production of natural gas (thousand TOE)  665 582 284 344 510 644 816 839 827 : 
Net imports of all energy products (thousand TOE)  46 028 54 291 49 536 54 234 60 505 63 232 67 266 73 256 80 596 : 
Gross inland energy consumption (thousand TOE)  74 275 80 500 75 402 78 331 83 826 87 818 91 074 99 642 107 625 : 
Electricity generation (thousand GWh)  116.4 124.9 122.7 129.4 140.6 150.7 162.0 176.3 191.6 198.6 
            
Agriculture Note 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 
Agricultural production volume index of goods  and services (produc er prices, previous 
year=100)  94.7 104.2 93.3 108.5 98.0 101.6 106.9 : : : 
Total utilised agricultural area (thousand hectare)  39 180 38 757 40 967 41 196 40 645 41 210 41 223 40 496 39 505 39 073 
Livestock: cattle (thousand heads, end of period) 9) 11 054 10 761 10 548 9 803 9 788 10 069 10 526 10 871 11 037 10 860 
Livestock: pigs (thousand heads, end of period)  3 3 3 4 7 4 2 1 2 2 
Livestock: sheep and goats (thousand heads, end of period)  38 030 35 693 33 994 31 954 32 203 31 811 31 822 32 260 31 749 29 5 68 
Production and utilisation of milk on the farm (total  whole milk, thousand tonnes)  : : : : : : : : : : 
Crop production: cereals (including rice) (thousand tonnes, harvested production)  28 749 32 108 29 426 30 686 30 658 33 957 36  471 34 642 29 256 29 287 
Crop production: sugar beet (thousand tonnes, harvested pr oduction)  17 102 18 821 12 633 16 523 12 623 13 517 15 181 14 452 12  415 15 488 
Crop production: vegetables (thousand tonnes, harvested production)  22 083 22 357 21 930 23 698 24 018 23 215 24 320 24 017 25  676 27 214