Europese Commissie juicht hervormingsmaatregelen Turkije toe (en)

The Commission welcomes the adoption by the Turkish Parliament of a series of constitutional amendments on 7 May. This new package shows once again the strong commitment of Turkey to political reforms and constitutes another step towards compliance with the Copenhagen political criteria. The new provisions under this reform package touch upon a number of areas ranging from the judiciary, civil-military relations, freedom of the press and gender equality. Some of the changes are particularly significant such as the abolition of the State Security Courts and the withdrawal of the representative of the National Security Council in the High Education Board. We note that some of the amendments address the specific issues mentioned in the Commission's Regular Report and in the Conclusions of the Brussels European Council of December 2003. In the period ahead, the Commission calls upon Turkey to address all the remaining issues under the Copenhagen political criteria and to ensure full and effective implementation of these reforms. The Commission will have the opportunity to discuss in detail to review the state of compliance with the Copenhagen political criteria in its regular contacts with the Turkish authorities and at the upcoming meeting of the Association Council planned on 18 May.