ANKARA, 11 January 2007 — Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul chaired yesterday a meeting of some 100 of Turkey’s most senior government officials to draft a road map of reforms until 2013 to bring the country in line with European Union norms.
Gul said Ankara was determined to pursue its full membership goal despite an EU decision in December to partially freeze accession talks with Turkey in response to its refusal to grant trade privileges to Cyprus. “The EU decision has not shaken in the least our determination for reform,” Gul said. “Accession processes always have ups and downs. What is important is to stick to the path of reform in the time of downs.”
“The climate is negative at present, but we know that this is only a temporary period.” A senior diplomat said the officials would draft a timetable of reforms to be implemented in a variety of policy areas until 2013. The plan is expected to be completed and revealed in late January or early February, he said.
Turkey also signaled yesterday it could amend a bill on minority foundations after the European Court of Human Rights ordered Turkey to give back property confiscated from an ethnic Greek school foundation. The court, based in Strasbourg, France, told Turkey on Tuesday to return the property or pay more than $1 million in compensation for infringing the foundation’s property rights.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s center-right government approved a foundations bill late last year in a bid to deflect EU criticism of its rights record. But President Ahmet Necdet Sezer vetoed the bill and asked parliament to reconsider it.
Meanwhile, a majority of Turks do not want Erdogan to become president in a vote in Parliament in May, but still expect him to run for the top job, according to a poll published yesterday.
Turkish secularists fear Erdogan, who has roots in political Islam and whose wife wears the Muslim head scarf, would try to undermine the division between state and religion if he became head of state, a job traditionally held by secularists.
The AKP has a big majority in the Parliament, which elects the president. The poll, conducted by market research company Metropoll and published by Aksam daily, showed 58 percent of Turks are opposed to Erdogan becoming president, while 34 percent are in favor.
