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.

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GOT's 2007 EU Roadmap Due Out February 5
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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.

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Election-Year Politics Likely To Stall Political Reform
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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."


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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.

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WILSON