Rapport: te weinig voortgang bij hervormingen Turkije (en)

Few days before an important meeting between Turkish authorities and the EU, an internal European Commission document says that Turkey's preparations to join the European Union could come to a halt due to insufficient progress in political reforms.

The Financial Times writes that a draft report, prepared for the EU-Turkey association council on 12 June, says that Ankara has done too little to implement changes.

According to the report, Turkey has persistent shortcomings as regards freedom of expression, religious and minority rights and the role of the military in politics.

The draft document says that "in the area of freedom of religion no concrete progress can be reported yet in terms of addressing the difficulties faced by non-Muslim religious minorities."

The same document also points out the commission's concern at "reports of torture and ill-treatment" and the "many cases pending against individual persons for non-violent expression of opinion."

Meanwhile another obstacle for Turkey, which is also noted in this draft paper, is the need for Ankara to resolve its dispute with Cyprus until the end of this year.

Last summer Turkey signed the so-called Ankara protocol extending a customs agreement with the EU to the bloc's "new" member states including the Republic of Cyprus.

The signing of this agreement was a precondition for the opening of EU entry talks with Ankara in October 2005 and in practical terms obliges Ankara to allow Cypriot vessels and aircraft enter its ports and airports.

But Turkey is still refusing to do so, instead demanding from the EU that it first ends the economic isolation of Turkish-populated Northern Cyprus.

Meanwhile Turkey's foreign minister Abdullah Gul insisted that the Turkish government is keeping up with the reform process.

"Some say the reform pace has slowed in Turkey and claim the country has lost its enthusiasm. The government's number-one agenda is the EU. It constitutes the agenda of every cabinet meeting," the Turkish Daily reports Mr Gul as saying.

Referring to next week's meeting Mr Gul added, "We will attend a meeting in Luxembourg on June 12th, and actual talks with the EU will start in that meeting. This date is a turning point in Turkey's relations with the EU.''

Mr Gul referred to the expected opening of the first face-to-face negotiations between Brussels and Ankara on the first negotiating chapter, after months of preparatory "screening" on various chapters since last autumn.