ANKARA, 18 September 2004 — Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday warned the European Union against meddling in “Turkey’s internal affairs.”
He was referring to a statement earlier in the day by a EU spokesman in Brussels expressing concern at a penal code reform bill crucial to the country’s EU accession bid being left in parliamentary limbo.
Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) unexpectedly blocked its own bill Thursday night, while it was in the very final stages of enactment by Parliament, in the face of internal pressure from its hardline Islamist wing to introduce a clause making adultery as a criminal offense.
“We have achieved and complied with everything concerning the Copenhagen political criteria,” he told reporters at the headquarters of his Justice and Development Party (AKP).
“Let us make one thing clear,” Erdogan added. “We are Turkey, we are Turks. We will make our own decisions — Parliament will make our decisions.”
“I can only repeat that such provisions (as the adultery clause) would certainly cast doubt on the direction of Turkey’s reform efforts and on its European orientation,” European Commission spokesman Jean-Christophe Filori said.
“All I want to say is that the new penal code is of utmost importance in Turkey’s reform process,” he said, ahead of a crucial report by the commission on Turkey’s EU entry hopes, which is due out on Oct. 6.
“No requests can be made concerning Turkey’s internal affairs,” Erdogan responded as he took questions from reporters after a brief speech before provincial party leaders at AKP headquarters.
He never referred directly to the adultery clause, but said, as he addressed party officials, that his party works “by taking into account the sensibilities of our people... and we know very well what our people want.”
