TURKEY: GOVERNMENT DEVELOPS 2007 EU ROADMAP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000078 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/16/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: GOVERNMENT DEVELOPS 2007 EU ROADMAP REF: ANKARA 06593 Classified By: Political Counselor Janice G. Weiner, reasons 1.4(b),(d) 1.(C) Summary: FM Gul convened a government-wide meeting January 10 to discuss Turkey's EU reform plans for 2007. Gul reiterated the GOT's commitment to the EU process, and pledged that the EU Steering Committee, with input from all ministries, would send a list of 2007 EU-reform priorities to Parliament by February 5. The GOT's effort is a good symbolic step to show continued commitment to reform, and may ultimately lead to the passage of some non-controversial bills during this election year. In what is likely to be a heated political environment, however, it is unrealistic to expect parliament to push through reforms on long-standing controversial issues such as Penal Code Article 301 (freedom of expression) or the reopening of Halki Seminary. The Law on Foundations may be broached, but it is likely to be a lengthy process. End summary. -------------- GOT's 2007 EU Roadmap Due Out February 5 -------------- 2.(U) Foreign Minister Abullah Gul convened a government-wide meeting January 10 to discuss priorities for EU-related reforms during 2007. Turkey's EU Secretariat Political Counselor Ahmet Dogan told us that all government departments involved in EU harmonization efforts attended, including officials from MFA, the Prime Ministry, the Prime Ministry's EU Secretariat, the State Planning Organization, the Turkish General Staff, the Ministry of Defense, the Higher Education Board (YOK),the Central Bank, and the Radio and Television Board (RTUK). The three main purposes for the meeting, Dogan told us, were to develop internal momentum for the EU reform process, show the Turkish and European public that Turkey is committed to reform, and establish the government's time-table for completing a 2007 EU-harmonization roadmap document. 3.(SBU) Gul told the audience that the GOT remains committed to the reform process even though it does not accept the EU's decision to make the Cyprus issue part of Turkey's EU accession criteria. Gul instructed the organizations to create lists of 2007 EU harmonization priorities, and send them to the EU Steering Committee by late January. The Steering Committee, chaired by State Minister Ali Babacan and composed of officials from the MFA, the EU Secretariat, the State Planning and Organization Office, and the Prime Ministry, will use these lists to create a list of 2007 priorities to send to Parliament by February 5, according to Gul. Dogan noted that Parliament would have five months to act on the issues before summery recess in July, but added that it will essentially lose two months to Presidential election campaigning during April and May. -------------- -------------- Election-Year Politics Likely To Stall Political Reform -------------- -------------- 4.(C) Election-year politics will make it difficult to tackle controversial political issues in 2007, Dogan lamented. He told us that the EU Secretariat and MFA have long realized that, with regard to controversial Turkish Penal Code Article 301, which criminalizes insulting "Turkishness", the government needs to abolish or show concrete improvement. Absent consensus from a broad spectrum of civil society actors, however, politicians will continue to avoid the issue, he told us. Thus far, Dogan noted, NGOs have failed to respond effectively to Prime Minister Erdogan's call for amendment proposals with any sort of consensus. 5.(C) Dogan dismissed press reports that the government would discuss opening of Halki Seminary this year. Politicians believe that supporting a reopening would draw ire from all sides and amount to political suicide, he noted. Islamists would demand the same treatment for Islamic schools, he explained, while secular nationalists would call it a ploy by Islamists to open a path toward legalizing Islamic schools. Dogan put the chances for movement on Halki this year at "about zero." ANKARA 00000078 002 OF 002 6.(SBU) The GOT was frustrated at the 2007 EU Progress Report's call for Turkey to develop a "comprehensive action plan" and to undertake a "dialogue with local counterparts" in southeastern Turkey, Dogan told us. The EU has ignored the fact that Turkey is already carrying out a wide-array of economic and social programs, and is allocating substantial funds to the region, noted Dogan. The GOT views the EU's statement that the GOT should undertake "dialogue" with regional leaders as a call for the government to work with a Kurdish political party -- the Democratic Society Party (DTP) -- that interacts with the PKK and has failed to denounce its tactics. Dogan wondered whether the EU would use the same approach if a European political party interacted with the Basque-separatist group ETA. 7.(SBU) The GOT is likely to take up the issue of property rights for non-Muslim minority foundations, Dogan told us, due to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) January 9 decision that ordered Turkey to return title deeds for two properties owned by the Greek Higher Secondary School Foundation, or pay 890,000 Euros to the foundation. Following the ruling, Deputy Prime Minister and DG for Foundations Mehmet Ali Sahin said the precedent would guide Parliament in amending the Foundations Law that was partially vetoed in November by President Sezer (reftel). Dogan told us that before amending the law, Parliament is likely to launch a detailed inquiry into the number of properties affected by the decision, which could take many months. 8.(C) Comment: Coming just one month after the EU suspended negotiations on eight chapters, FM Gul's January 10 inter-ministerial meeting was an important symbolic step to show the GOT's continued commitment to the accession process. The true test, however, will be whether the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) can develop a realistic set of 2007 reform priorities and then prove willing to push them through Parliament during an election year. While the AKP may succeed in working with the Berlin Presidency to enact some non-controversial measures, it is not realistic to expect the it to enact reform on controversial issues such as Article 301 or Halki Seminary during the year. End comment. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON