Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘EU-Turkey relations with a view to the European Council of December 2004’
Date: 2004-07-01
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: EU relations, Türkiye, armed forces, democracy, human rights

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Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘EU-Turkey relations with a view to
the European Council of December 2004’

(2004/C 302/17)

On 28 January 2004, the European Economic and Social Committee decided to draw up an opinion under
Rule 29 of its Rules of Procedure on ‘EU Turkey relations with a view to the European Council of
December 2004’.

The Section for External Relations, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on this
subject, adopted its opinion on 7 June 2004. The rapporteur was Mr Tom Etty.

At its 410th plenary session, held on 30 June – 1 July 2004 (meeting on 1 July 2004), the European
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion, with 166 votes in favour, 17 against and
28 abstentions:

1. Background

2. Introduction

The EESC has followed developments in Turkey for
1.1
many years now. Turkey associated with the EC in 1963,
applied for membership in 1987, and became a partner of the
EU in the Customs Union in 1995.

1.2
Through a Joint Consultative committee (JCC), estab-
lished with organised civil society in Turkey and functioning
well since 1995, the EESC is well informed of the aspirations of
the social and economic interest groups in Turkey as regards
membership of their country of the EU. It has always taken
these aspirations into account and sincerely hopes that the
European Summit of December 2004 will be able to conclude
that Turkey has met the 1993 Copenhagen political criteria
and therefore decide that negotiations on accession will be
opened without delay.

Turkey has demonstrated for several decades that it has,

1.3
unequivocally, chosen to turn itself to Europe.

Turkey is a country with a secular state with an over-
1.4
whelmingly Islamic population.
It wishes to function as a
modern, secular democracy. It is a highly important example
for those countries which have a predominantly Islamic popu-
lation and which want to strengthen their political structures in
terms of secularism and democracy. Turkey's accession to the
EU would demonstrate the high level the EU has achieved in
terms of its pluralism, of its ability to manage dialogue between
cultures and religions, and of its role in promoting peace and
justice in the world.

Turkey is a demographically young country with a
1.5
strongly growing economy of great potential.
It would be,
however, incorrect to continue considering it only as a large
market for European export or a zone for low cost investment.

1.6
Turkey has developed during many years a role, on the
one hand as a buffer zone and on the other hand as a bridge
between the West and the East, but it has never stopped to
consider itself as European. If Turkey succeeds in becoming a
member of the EU, it could even more directly support the EU
activities for conflict prevention,
in particular thanks to its
excellent relations with the Central Asian region, the Middle
East, and the Gulf area.

2.1
Relations between the EU and Turkey are presently, and
for the rest of this year will continue to be dominated by the
question whether or not negotiations on accession will be
opened. The European Summit will
its
meeting in December 2004.

take a decision at

2.2
That decision will be a decisive event after a period of
more than fifteen years during which Turkey has been waiting
for a clear-cut answer to its application for membership of the
EU. The Helsinki Council of December 1999 gave Turkey the
status of a candidate for membership. The Copenhagen Council
of December 2002 decided that a decision on opening negotia-
tions would be taken on the basis of the outcome of an assess-
ment, if Turkey by then meets the 1993 Copenhagen political
criteria. Satisfying them is considered to be an essential precon-
dition for embarking on the route to full membership.

The decision to be taken is obviously not only of the

2.3
greatest importance for Turkey, but also for the EU.

So far,

the outcome of

2.4
the monitoring of relevant
progress in Turkey by the European Commission has been
positive. According to the Commission, results of the reform
process have been particularly impressive in the past two or
three years. However, significant further progress is necessary
as regards the independence of
freedom of
expression, the role of the army, and cultural rights – the latter
especially in the South-East.

the judiciary,

The European Parliament, in its most recent report on Turkey,
makes a similar assessment. It considers that Turkey, despite all
the efforts made so far, still does not meet the Copenhagen
political criteria. Major shortcomings are in the 1982 Constitu-
tion, adopted under military rule. Reforms since 2001 have not
yet
removed its basically authoritarian character. Further
important concerns, according to the Parliament's report, are
with implementation of reforms in practice, persisting torture
in police stations, harassment of human rights organisations,
and the lack of respect for the rights of minorities (in particular
of the Kurds).

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2.5
Turkey has not only realised an impressive programme
of legislation, but it has also taken important measures so as to
monitor the implementation of this new legislation in practice.

The 1999 Helsinki Council stated clearly that Turkey's
the same

3.5
reform-performances would be measured against
accession criteria applying to the other candidate countries.

2.6
This opinion has been prepared, among others, on the
basis of relevant work done by the EU-Turkey Joint Consulta-
tive Committee. This has allowed the EESC to take into account
the views, aspirations and expectations of a significant part of
Turkish civil society.

3. General observations

3.1
It must be clear from the outset that the crucial issues
for the EESC to discuss at this point of time are basically the
political issues of democracy, rule of law, human rights, and
the protection of minorities, as decided by the December 2002
Copenhagen Council.

3.2
The economic criteria and the acquis will only be
discussed here insofar as progress Turkey has realised with
regard to them can be considered to contribute to the strength-
ening of human rights, of civil society and of democracy.

The EESC has carefully taken note of recent relevant
3.3
in particular the European Commission's 2003
information,
Regular Report on Turkey's progress towards accession, Euro-
pean Parliament's Report on Turkey of April 2004 and the
Council of Europe's Report on Human Rights on Turkey of
December 2003. It shares the general assessment of the reform
process made in these reports. It considers the added value of
this opinion to be in its views of the political criteria which are
of particular importance for the economic and social interest
groups. Therefore, it is on these aspects that this opinion will
focus.

In this connection,

it should be observed that some
3.6
countries with whom negotiations on accession have been
opened several years ago, apparently did not fully meet the
political criteria at the moment when negotiations were opened
with them. In some of them, serious discrepancies still persist,
even now that they have become members of the EU. One can
think in this connection of important elements such as corrup-
tion, the independence of the judiciary and the treatment of
minorities. Against this background it is important to state that
in our opinion Turkey should not only be tested against the
same criteria as the other candidate Member States, but also
that these criteria will be applied in the same way.

3.7
In December 2002, when the Council set its deadline
for taking a decision on opening negotiations with Turkey yes
or no, their decision can only have meant that they thought
that at that very moment Turkey had made enough progress to
justify the expectation that, if it would make a strong effort in
the remaining twenty four months, the remaining shortcom-
ings could indeed be overcome. Had this not been the case,
giving Turkey this perspective would have been pointless and
unfair.

For some of the remaining key problems, like the role
3.7.1
of the army in society and the treatment of minorities, (in par-
ticular the Kurds in the Southeast), which have a complicated
history of many decades, two years is a very short period.
Therefore,
it is reasonable to infer that Council cannot have
meant that Turkey would be able to fully meet the political
criteria by December 2004.

For the EESC, aspects of particular importance in the

3.4
political criteria are:

3.7.2
If that is a correct interpretation of Council's decision
in December 2002, the question is how much progress on
which aspects of
the political criteria can realistically be
demanded of Turkey before negotiations can be started.

— the respect for human rights (in particular the right to orga-
nise and the right to bargain collectively; women's rights
and the cultural rights of minorities);

— democracy, in particular the contribution which economic
interest groups and civil society at large can

and social
make to the political decision making process;

— freedom of expression, free media; and

— the role of the army in Turkish society,

in particular in

economic and social life.

In the current discussion on the opening of negotiations
3.8
on accession with Turkey, reference is made regularly to the
problem of Cyprus. The positive role Turkey has played in the
efforts to find a solution, and the consecutive 65 % vote in
favour of the island reunification by the Turkish Cypriot com-
munity, have to be taken into consideration. Undoubtedly,
Cyprus remains an issue of capital importance, both in terms
of principles and of political realities. However, if one sticks
faithfully and honestly to the decision of
the Copenhagen
Council of December of 2002 referred to in para. 2.2, the EU
cannot make the solution of the Cyprus problem a new condi-
tion for opening negotiations as this would mean setting an
extra condition ex post.

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4. Specific remarks

4.1 Human rights

The economic and social

4.1.1
interest groups are deeply
involved in issues related to the right to organise and the right
to bargain collectively, enshrined in ILO Conventions 87 and
98, and in the European Social Charter. Turkey has ratified
both ILO Conventions and is a party to the European Social
Charter. It has made reservations as to Articles 5 (right to orga-
nise) and 6 (right to bargain collectively, right to strike) of the
Charter.

4.1.2
In the last two decades, and in particular as a conse-
quence of the military coup d'état of September 1980, serious
infringements of
these rights have occurred. The military
regime went so far as to inscribe a number of grave violations
of fundamental trade union rights in the 1982 Constitution.

4.1.3
upon them have been amended in recent years.

Several of these articles and pieces of legislation based

4.1.4
However, some important deviations of the funda-
mental ILO Conventions still persist. In particular, Article 54 of
the Constitution still contains detailed restrictions of the right
to strike. Article 51 of the Constitution, setting pre-conditions
for the election of trade union officials, has been amended so
as to bring it in line with ILO Convention 87. Initiatives to
amend similar provisions in Act 2821 on Trade Unions and
Act 2822 on Collective Labour Agreements, Strikes and Lock-
outs are under way. However, according to the 2004 report of
the Committee of Experts on ratified Conventions of the ILO to
the International Labour Conference,
the Government has
recently opened court procedures based on this legislation
against DISK, one of the trade union confederations represented
on the EU-Turkey Joint Consultative Committee.

For more than twenty years, the supervisory bodies of
4.1.5
the ILO (the independent Committee of Experts on the Applica-
tion of Conventions,
the International Labour Conference's
Committee on the Application of Conventions as well as the
Governing Body's Committee on Freedom of Association) have
severely criticised these violations and indicated how Turkey
should put an end to them. Action by successive Turkish
Governments to redress the situation has been disappointingly
slow and unfortunately signs of improvement are still lacking.

4.1.6
A report on Social Dialogue and Economic and Social
Rights in Turkey, prepared for the 12th meeting of the EU-
Turkey JCC (1), highlighted in particular the restrictions of the
right to organise and the right to strike in the public sector.
Despite several reforms in trade union and industrial relations
legislation, these, unfortunately, still persist today.

4.1.7
legal

As regards the right to organise in NGOs, there are
regarding i.a.

in the Associations Law,

restrictions

(1) ‘Social dialogue and economic and social rights in Turkey’.

membership, fund-raising and scope of activities. In practice,
the functioning of
is often seriously
these organisations
hampered. NGOs considered to take anti-government positions
in a peaceful way are confronted with infiltrations, close moni-
toring, censorship, etc.

Foundations for (religious) minorities face particular
4.1.8
difficulties as regards property rights. The Government seems
to be ready to redress these restrictions to their free func-
tioning. Improvements have been promised for Spring 2004,
but these have not been fulfilled so far.

Serious problems continue to exist as regards the
4.1.8.1
training of
in particular Greek
orthodox clergy. The theological college of Halki has been
closed for more than thirty years.

religions minority clergy,

As

regards women's rights,

the Committee notes
4.1.9
several serious defects despite Turkey's ratification of the funda-
mental ILO Conventions on Equal Remuneration (No 100) and
on Discrimination (Employment and Occupation)
(No 111).
The Conventions are implemented in law with some exceptions
legal barriers exist to women's access to certain jobs).
(e.g.
Implementation in practice, however, shows many weaknesses,
e.g. with respect to equal remuneration for the same job with
equal qualifications and access to certain types of quality
employment. Similar problems exist
in many EU Member
States.

4.1.9.1
A point of serious concern is the problem of
powerful criminal networks which exploit forced prostitution
and national as well as international trafficking of women, boys
and girls, and organs.

Despite

changes

important

4.1.10
in legislation, grave
problems persist for the time being as regard the treatment of
the Kurds in practice. Their cultural rights as a minority are not
being respected sufficiently yet, despite certain recent important
improvements in particular with respect to broadcasting in the
Kurdish language. In Turkey, the status of minority is reserved
for the country's religious groups based on the Treaty of
Lausanne of 1923 which only speaks of religious minorities.

4.2 Democracy

Under this heading, the EESC wishes to stress once
4.2.1
more the potential importance of the new Economic and Social
Council of Turkey. It can contribute significantly to reinforce-
ment of the democratic process in the area of decision-making
on major economic and social
issues through meaningful
consultations of the most representative interest groups by the
Government.
is much more than just an
it
element of the social dialogue as the Commission addresses it
in its Regular Report.

In that sense,

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4.2.2
The Turkish Economic and Social Council was estab-
lished in 2001. It is presided over by the Prime Minister and
several other Cabinet Ministers participate in its work. Since its
inception it was not convened until the present Government
came to power, one and a half years ago. It has met three times
now, according to schedule, but is certainly has not functioned
in the way as recommended in the EU-Turkey JCC's Report on
Social Dialogue and Economic and Social Rights, mentioned in
para. 4.1.6 above. Rather, it appears to be a talking shop in
which statements are delivered and inconclusive discussions
take place, instead of an influential body where economic and
social interest groups, officially consulted by the Government,
make serious efforts to reach consensus on difficult issues in
their fields of competence and activity. Clearly, such a body
and such activities cannot be created overnight. But, so far, the
Government has failed to provide the organisations represented
on the Council with incentives to do real business with each
other, for instance by reassuring them and by proving to them
that,
if they succeed to reach meaningful compromises, the
Government's policies will significantly reflect the latter. The
EESC hopes that the Government of Turkey will seriously and
constructively cooperate with the Economic and Social Council
enabling it to develop into a significant element in the demo-
cratisation process in Turkey.
In February of this year, the
Government announced that it intends to review the composi-
tion of the Economic and Social Council, and in particular its
own dominant position in it.

The Committee also wishes to highlight the impor-
4.2.3
tance of freedom of expression and free media for the demo-
cratic process in Turkey. It acknowledges the great number of
reforms in this particular area. However, it shares the concern
expressed by the Commissioner for Human Rights of
the
Council of Europe that some of the changes (for instance in the
Constitution) could be interpreted in such a way as being even
more restrictive than the provisions which they have replaced.
Furthermore, practical application and interpretation of
the
new articles is the essential test for these reforms, as for those
in other areas. Early experiences in legal proceedings show,
unfortunately, little consistency as far as this is concerned.

4.3 Role of the armed forces in Turkish society

The EESC is aware of the important role the armed
4.3.1
forces have played and still play in the history of the country
as well as in Turkish society today. It acknowledges that there
have been instances when this role has been a positive one.
However, it must also be observed that many of the difficulties
Turkey faces today in meeting the 1993 Copenhagen political
criteria result from the army's extremely broad and deep invol-
vement in society. That involvement has to be put to an end
on the basis of a concrete programme and a strict timetable.

4.3.2
The EESC realises that it is impossible to eradicate
such a dominant role in many spheres of life, way beyond the
normal role of an army (defence, internal security), in a very
it must be made absolutely
short period of time. However,
clear to Turkey that if it wants to become a member of the EU,
the role of the army must be confined to the tasks of the army
in the other Member States;
limited to safeguarding the
i.e.
external and internal security of the country and participate in
the
international operations, under democratic control of
Parliament.

4.3.3
In addition to the points which have already been
discussed by the European Commission and by the European
Parliament (among others the role and composition of the
National Security Council, the political responsibility for the
army's budget, military representation on civilian bodies in the
realm of education and audio-visual media) it must be noted
here that the army and army officers also take prominent posi-
tions in economic life. A law of 2003 stipulates that the two
extra budgetary funds of the armed forces will be included in
the general State budget by the end of 2004 and will cease to
exist as a separate heading by 2007. This implies that as from
2007 the armed forces' budget will be completely under demo-
cratic control. However, for the time being, the armed forces
maintain considerable power in Turkish society and economy:
there is a vast area of influence – formal as well as informal –
of the military which must be made transparent in the same
way as all other economic activities (1). This economic aspect
has so far been neglected in discussions by the EU of the
powerful role of the army in Turkish society only. The Euro-
pean Parliament has addressed it in its most recent report.

5. Conclusions and recommendations

5.1
The EESC considers Turkey a developing democracy,
which has made important progress in its efforts to meet the
political Copenhagen criteria, especially since December 2002.

(1) Examples are the retirement fund of army officers owning a bank
and a holding company which is, among others, the Turkish coun-
terpart
in the major joint venture in the automobile industry.
According to information supplied by OYAK, it has been established
as a corporate entity, financially and administratively autonomous,
subject to the provisions of Turkish civic and commercial codes like
any other similar institutions. Its main function is to provide bene-
fits to its members,
in addition to those provided by the social
security plan of the Turkish State, and it basically corresponds to
the second pillar pension funds operating in the EU.
All armed forces' military and civilian members are members of
OYAK Pension Fund. They remain as permanent members of
OYAK. However, except constituting its membership base, OYAK
has no relationship with the State and Turkish armed forces in
terms of investments or business; fund transfers or state aids, or any
other type of financial support. OYAK is an occupational pension
fund that is alike with its equivalents in the EU.
As part of its transparency policy, annual reports of OYAK are
published for general public release and the accounts of both the
Institution and its subsidiaries are being audited every year, by the
international auditing firms. OYAK proved supplementary retire-
ment benefits.

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5.2
Turkey should not only meet the same political criteria
as other candidate member states before negotiations can be
opened; its performance in the reform process should also be
measured by the same standards as those used for other candi-
date member states. Every effort should be made on the side of
the EU to avoid even the suggestion of double standards.

The decision of

the Copenhagen Council,

5.3
in 2002,
means that the EU at that point of time was convinced that
Turkey, by making serious efforts, could satisfy the political
criteria within a period of two years. As regards some areas,
which have been dominated by long standing traditions and
practices, this can only have meant that full compliance with
the political criteria by December 2004 is however impossible
and that they are rather looking for a critical mass of real
progress which would suffice for opening negotiations. Even
some of the new member states, which have gone through the
full negotiating process, are not fully meeting the political
criteria today.

5.3.1
In these particular areas, what the EU can and must
realistically demand of Turkey is that such credible progress
will have been made by the end of 2004 that it can be expected
that a ‘point of no return’ will have been passed by then.
Obvious examples are the role of the army and the treatment
of minorities in particular the Kurds in the Southeast. The
EESC insists that the reforms with respect to the reduction of
the power of the armed forces in society at large, as well as
rights of minorities will be
those regarding the cultural
continued at the present pace and direction and hopes that no
retrogressive development will occur in the future which would
jeopardize the accession negotiation process.

5.3.2
The role of the army, outside the scope of its basic
functions of defence and security, must be rolled back in a
determined way so as to give the EU confidence that a process
beyond a point of no return is under way. The army budget
must be brought under full democratic control. The army's
influence
and appropriate
measures should be taken to guarantee this transparency in
future.

should be made

transparent

5.3.3
The EU should continue its discussion with Turkey on
the definition of minorities (which Turkey bases on the Treaty
of Lausanne), with a view to the difficulties it raises for Turkey
to ratify without reservations, as well as to implement in prac-
tice, relevant international instruments. In this discussion, the
EU should pay full attention to the fact that some of its twenty
five Member States also subscribe to a narrow definition of
minorities which causes the same problem.

The EESC refers to the work done by the JCC
5.3.3.1
recently on regional development (1) and stresses the impor-
tance of an active regional development policy in Turkey,
supported by the EU, which would create the opportunity to
actively involve the population in Turkey's South-eastern (as
well as in other) areas in the economic and social development

(1) Reports on Regional Disparities in Turkey/Regional Development by

Mrs Cassina and Mr Guvenc.

of their region. The gradual adoption by Turkey of EU regional
policy standards represents an opportunity to promote a
greater and consistent partnership among organised civil
independent and representative
society – in particular free,
economic and social interest groups on the one hand, and the
authorities at all relevant
Jointly, they
should develop a
shared view on development policy.
Exchanges of experience between EU and Turkish socio-
economic organisations should be promoted.

levels on the other.

initiatives of

The EESC notes with interest

5.3.3.2
the
Turkish Government like the Bill of 2000 on compensation for
harm caused by the security forces during anti-terrorist activ-
ities and the Internally Displaced Persons and ‘Back to Village
and Rehabilitation’ Project. The EESC considers it of great
importance for the credibility of reforms as regards the rights
of the population of the South Eastern provinces that before
December 2004 these initiatives will have started to benefit the
victims concretely.

In other areas like human rights, where Turkey has been
5.4
in discussion with the ILO and the Council of Europe for a
long time and where change does not, or not so much, require
the uprooting of long established power positions, traditions
and beliefs, Turkey should be able to show strong progress and
meet the requirements it has known for a very long time now
by the end of 2004. For instance, by that time the violations of
ILO Conventions 87 and 98 which have lasted now about a
quarter of a century must have been put to an end. Also, the
undemocratic restrictions on the functioning of NGOs in the
Associations Law as well as in day to day practice must be
removed. The
reform process Turkey is going through
presently gives rise to positive expectations. However, in this
area concrete and full results must be shown by the deadline
mentioned.

should,
The Turkish Economic and Social Council
5.5
already in the course of this year, be much more seriously
involved in the preparation of economic and social policy. The
Government must consult it on key issues in these areas and
must show that it takes its opinions and advice seriously. It is
only by giving real responsibility to economic and social
interest groups, and by rewarding them if they take it, that the
Government can expect them to take seriously the Council, as
well as the Government's intentions with it. The EESC notes
with interest that the Government is preparing a review of the
Economic and Social Council. However, this should not be
used as an argument to further delay the active involvement of
organised civil society in economic and social policy making in
Turkey.

In order

to strengthen civil society in Turkey,

5.6
the
Government must not only stop its interferences in the activ-
ities of genuine NGOs and economic and social interest groups.
It should rather encourage their emergence,
facilitate their
work, and cooperate with them.

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5.7
It is the view of the EESC that a positive decision on the
opening of negotiations with Turkey on accession to the EU
must be taken if the Government of Turkey by December next,
will have

— created conditions for the free and independent functioning
of the Economic and Social Council of Turkey, as well as
basis for meaningful and constructive cooperation with this
Council.

— taken measures to satisfy the demands with respect to the
role of the army in Turkish society in paras 4.3.1 and 4.3.2
above;

— shown, in concrete measures, determination to fully imple-
ment in practice the legal reforms concerning the cultural
rights of the Kurds in the South-Eastern provinces of the
country;

— started to implement in practice the intentions expressed
and commitments made with regard to voluntary return,
rehabilitation and compensation of displaced victims of the
violence in the South East in the 1980s and 1990s;

— brought its legislation and practice with regard to basic
trade union rights and freedoms fully in line with ILO
Conventions 87 and 98;

— cleaned the Associations Law from all anti-democratic
stains and refrained in practice from restrictions on the free
functioning of genuine civil society organisations including
religious foundations; and

5.8
The EESC thinks that the reforms made so far by the
Government of Turkey as regards the problems related to the
role of the army in society, as well as those which pertain to
the cultural rights of the Kurds in the South East, represent the
credible progress demanded in paragraph 5.3.1 above.

5.9
Furthermore, if the points enumerated in the last four
indents of paragraph 5.7 will have been met before December
2004, the EESC believes that a reliable basis has been created
for the opening of the negotiations which, in due time, will
lead to mutually beneficial results. In this event, the EESC is of
the view that each of the European institutions, including the
EESC itself, should begin preparing for the effects of Turkish
accession on the workings and the concept of the European
Union itself. As a result of such accession the European Union
would be considerably enlarged and altered, which would
require widespread support from European public opinion.

5.10
Irrespective of the decision of the December Council,
the EESC will continue its fruitful cooperation with Turkey's
organised civil society.

Brussels, 1 July 2004.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Roger BRIESCH