Hervormingen Turks rechtsstelsel onder EU-druk vertraagt proces tegen terroristen (en)

Pro-EU reforms have delayed the trial of almost 70 people in connection with a series of terrorist attacks in Istanbul last autumn.

It emerged yesterday (31 May) that the trial of 69 people suspected of involvement in the November 2003 attacks on two synagogues and later on the British Consulate and the offices of HSBC - a British-owned bank, has been put on hold.

Defence lawyers claimed that EU-inspired legislation put in place last month meant the Istanbul State Security Court had been disbanded and so was unable to hear the case.

The court later agreed and although preliminary hearings will continue this week, the trial proper has been indefinitely postponed.

The legislation passed last month swept away Turkey's system of State Security Courts, criticised by the international community for being under the influence of the military.

Prison for reading poem

The courts were often used to hear cases that threaten `the integrity of the state' - which the military is bound to uphold - effectively cases touching on Islamism or Kurdistan almost inevitably ended up there.

The Istanbul State Security Court is the body that sentenced the now Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to 10 months in prison for reading a religious poem.

Media reports quote the Turkish Justice Minister as saying the courts will be replaced within the next two weeks.

Turkey hopes that later this year it will get the go ahead to start negotiations leading to EU membership.

November's blasts killed more than 60 people.