European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday he would urge Turkey to speed up reforms and show more interest in European Union membership during his first official visit this week.
Turkey started EU accession talks in 2005 but they have been held back by slow progress in EU-linked reforms, the impact of the unresolved Cyprus dispute and the reluctance of some EU members, such as France and Austria.
"What is crucial here is that Turkey demonstrates to Europe its interest in the membership of Europe," Barroso told a news conference on the eve of his departure for Ankara. "I am bringing him the message of encouraging reforms," he said of his meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan vowed on Tuesday to speed up political reforms required to join the 27-nation Union after stalling for more than a year amid opposition from nationalist parties.
Barroso repeated EU concern over an attempt by Turkey's chief prosecutor to shut down the ruling AK Party and bar the prime minister from politics for alleged Islamist subversion. "It is not normal that the party that was chosen by the majority of the Turkish people is now under this kind of investigation," he said. "Europe can accept only a democratic Turkey, a Turkey where there is consensus on democratic values."
Many in Turkey's secular elite-the judiciary, army generals and university rectors-believe the AK Party is trying to undermine the separation of state and religion, notably by proposing legislation to allow university students to wear the Islamic headscarf. The AK Party denies this and says the court case is politically motivated.
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said he expected common sense to prevail over the court case, which has rocked Turkish financial markets and caused months of political uncertainty. "Turkey is now an open country, an open society, an open economy. In open countries, the public both at home and abroad can watch developments. In open countries, common sense and rationality have always won," Babacan told reporters.
Barroso renewed pressure on Turkey to keep a promise to amend or scrap a law that prohibits "insulting Turkishness" and which has been used against hundreds of intellectuals and journalists, including Nobel Literature Laureate Orhan Pamuk.
The law was incompatible with "the values of freedom of expression that we have in Europe," Barroso said. The Turkish government sent a proposed amendment to parliament this week, under which the president would have to authorise prosecutions and insulting "Turkishness" would be replaced by "the Turkish nation", but EU officials said it could be watered down by lawmakers.
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