TEPAV EU Institute Director Eralp: “EU Adopts Tougher Discourse on Cyprus” In her assessment regarding the European Parliament's motion for resolution on Turkey, Eralp emphasized that the discourse on Cyprus became tougher and the weakness of the checks and balances system in Turkey was stressed for the first time.
ANKARA- TEPAV EU Institute Director Nilgün Arısan Eralp emphasized that the European Parliament's motion for resolution on Turkey "adopted a tougher discourse on Cyprus and for the first time an EU institution stressed the weakness of the 'checks and balances' system" in Turkey.
In her assessment, Eralp stated that the first draft of Motion for Resolution on Turkey that was prepared at the end of 2010 and had been discussed at different levels in the European Parliament and was adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee on 10th of February by a great majority. Stressing that the striking feature of the aforementioned discussion process, that was also highlighted in the Turkish media was the tougher discourse on Cyprus in the Foreign Affairs Committee, Eralp said: "In addition to this, the Report involves other aspects that are of significant importance for the consolidation of the democratic system in Turkey." Eralp added:
"The first draft of the report that was prepared in late 2010 involved familiar statements on the Cyprus issue which can be in every EU report as "calls on the Turkish government to contribute in concrete terms to the comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus issue" and "to open ports and airports to the Southern Cyprus in compliance with the additional protocol of the Ankara Agreement". However, following the discussion sin the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament in February this year, reference was made to the United Nations decision no. 1984/550 that called for the return of the Varosha area, Turkey was called on to withdraw its forces from Cyprus and to facilitate the access of the Committee on Missing Persons by opening the military zones in the north. In addition, the proposal of the Socialist group for the adoption of the Direct Trade Regulation in order to cease the isolation of the Northern Cyprus was declined.
The Report, as usual called Turkey to accelerate the EU reforms in the country. In this context, freedom of the press, gender equality, honour killings, abolishment of the headscarf ban in universities within the framework of individual freedom of choice for women , and protection of religious minorities came to the fore."
Insufficient "Checks and balances "mechanism...
Eralp emphasized that the "constitutional reform" process was the other significant element in the report. Maintaining that the motion for resolution highlighted the necessity of a comprehensive constitutional amendment that would l transform Turkey into a fully-fledged pluralistic democracy by protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, Eralp said: "The resolution states that the constitutional amendment process must be 'participatory' involving all political parties and the civil society, must be the product of negotiations as comprehensive as possible, with a reasonable timing and must be build upon dialogue and consensus." Eralp added:
"In this year's motion for resolution, the European Parliament for the first time addressed the constitutional process as a priority area. This issue the report highlights is the insufficiency of the "checks and balances" system based on the principle of the separation of powers between the executive, legislative and the judiciary, which must be established in a modern and democratic state. However, this issue has not attracted much public attention in Turkey yet.
The motion draws attention to the key importance of this mechanism in a democratic system and underlines in particular the role of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) in eliminating this deficiency. The motion argues that the TGNA should support the modernization efforts actively and constructively on the basis of cross-party commitment as well as ensure the democratic scrutiny of the government's policies."
In her assessment, Nilgün Arısan Eralp stressed that the weakness of the "checks and balances" mechanisms and the critical role of the TGNA in overcoming these weaknesses were highlighted for the first time in an EU report and maintained that Turkey can discuss this issue in more detail after the adoption of the final report on March 8.
