Turkey's Application to Join EU

international | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis Friday September 10, 2004 23:57 by Michael hennigan - Finfacts.com finfacts at finfacts dot ie 087-2474328

Recent moves not helping its cause

In 1974, Spain, Portugal and Greece were run by dictatorships and together with the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, democracy in Europe was an endangered specie. By joining the EU, countries have strenghthened their democratic structures and the same opportunity is available to Turkey. In recent times, the human rights situation has improved and the repression of the culture of the minority Kurdish population has been eased.

I had a positive view about Turkey's application to join the EU but the bullshit proposal to criminalise adultery has made me think again.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a devout Muslim, says a bill to revise the penal code, will help protect women from deception. However, women's groups and liberal commentators in Turkey have condemned the bill, saying it would be used against women and pushes the secular Muslim state closer to an Islamic legal model.

"I cannot understand how a measure like this could be considered at such a time," EU Commissioner Günther Verheugen said while on a visit to Turkey. "It can only be a joke. It would be a mistake to try to restore it (adultery) to the criminal code."