EUROPEAN UNION REFORMS DIMINISH THE ROLE OF THE TURKİSH MİLİTARY: ANKARA KNOCKING ON BRUSSELS` DOOR

Authors : Soner ÇAĞAPTAY

Pages : 213-217

Doi:10.1501/Intrel_0000000068

View : 29 | Download : 7

Publication Date : 2003-05-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :On August 8, 2003, the seventh European Union EU reform package went into effect in Turkey, significantly curbing the role of the military in politics. This legislation, passed by the Justice and Development Party AKP government on August 4, follows six previous packages adopted since February 2002. Collectively, these reform measures have vastly liberalized the country`s political system, facilitating Kurdish broadcasting and education, abolishing the death penalty, and subjecting Turkish courts to the European Court of Human Rights. Turkey now has laws guaranteeing freedom of speech, and the military is no longer the kingmaker in Ankara. As a result, AKP—a self-styled `conservative democratic` party vvith an identifiable `Islamist pedigree`—anticipates that Turkey vvill pass muster vvhen Brussels revievvs its candidacy for EU membership in June 2004. Ankara hopes that the EU vvill establish an accession calendar, opening the vvay for Turkey`s eventual entry into the union, perhaps vvithin the next decade. These developments are crucial to Turkey`s future. Which path will the country take now that the military is stripped of its role as a decisionmaking body? Will the EU open its doors to Turkey?
Keywords : EUROPEAN UNION REFORMS, ROLE OF THE TURKİSH MİLİTARY, ANKARA KNOCKING ON BRUSSELS