10.05.2007 - Source: Guardian

Parliament passes major constitutional amendment to allow people, rather than members of parliament, to elect president ("Ankara reforms embrace people power") [ID 19893]

Document(s): Open document

10.05.2007 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Legislators approve constitutional amendment that would make it more difficult for Kurdish politicians to enter parliament ("Turkey Passes Amendment Seen As Curbing Kurdish Votes") [ID 19894]

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06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Freedom of association (as of 2006) ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 19004]

"The law provides for freedom of association; however, there continued to be several restrictions on this right in practice.

Under the new law adopted in July 2004, associations need not notify authorities before founding an association, but still must provide such notification before interacting with international organizations, and/or receiving financial support from abroad, and provide detailed documents on such activities. Representatives of associations said this placed an undue burden on their operations.

Foreign associations wishing to conduct programs in the country are no longer required to receive separate permission from the interior ministry for each activity, but they are still required to submit detailed reports to the government on each activity, despite the fact that local partners are required to report on the same projects.

According to the Third Sector Foundation of Turkey, an NGO advocacy organization, the criteria for NGOs to obtain public benefit status, entitling them to certain tax exemptions, are restrictive and complicated. Applications for public benefit status must be approved by the Council of Ministers. The law does not allow applicants to appeal if their petitions are rejected."

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15.11.2006 - Source: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung

New legal basis for conscientious objectors comes into force on 5 October 2006: In the future, civil courts are in charge of cases concerning conscientious objection ("Gelassene Reaktion auf den EU-Fortschrittsbericht in der Türkei: Politischer Kurzbericht") [ID 18532]

"Ab dem 05. Oktober 2006 gilt eine neue Rechtsgrundlage für Kriegsdienstverweigerer und Fahnenflüchtige. Bisher wurden solche Fälle vor den Militärgerichten verhandelt und konnten mit Gefängnisstrafen von einem Monat bis zu drei Jahren geahndet werden. Nun sind türkische Zivilgerichte mit der Verhandlung dieser Fälle betraut. Einerseits kommt es zur Entflechtung von Militär und Zivilgesellschaft und anderseits erhofft man sich davon eine Entlastung der Militärgerichte, weil über 50% der Verfahren vor diesen Gerichten solche Fälle sind."

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08.11.2006 - Source: European Commission

Democracy and rule of law: Public administration ("Turkey 2006 Progress Report") [ID 18904]

"Parliament adopted a Law Establishing an Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will handle petitions from natural and legal persons in relation to administrative acts. This is a priority of the Accession Partnership and an important step forward, as it creates an institutional framework for the monitoring of public administration by the Turkish citizens.

The Constitution was amended in November 2005 in line with the Public Financial Management and Control (PFMC)’s broader definition of state budget. This includes general budget agencies, special budgets agencies, budgets of regulatory agencies as well as budgets of social security agencies.

Turkey has made some progress regarding better regulation. The government adopted a Regulation in February 2006 which introduces regulatory impact assessments (RIA) into the Turkish legal system. The use of RIA should, amongst other things, support Turkey in the conduct of EU accession negotiations.

However, a number of issues require attention. PFMC needs to be fully implemented and the institutional capacity for conducting regulatory impact assessment needs to be reinforced.

No progress has been made in adopting the Framework Law on Public Administration, which was vetoed by the President in 2004. As a result, the devolution of central government powers to local administrations was hampered. Moreover, fiscal decentralisation has not been achieved. No progress has been made to establish City Councils.

The Law on the Associations of Local Governments was amended in January 2006. This allows villages, municipalities and special provincial administration to undertake joint projects. The expenditure and budgets of the joint projects became exempt from the Court of Accounts audit. This is not in line with the principles of external audit.

No progress can be reported on the draft Civil Servant law. This aims to partially repeal the existing legal provisions and to adopt a more managerial legal instrument.

Overall, there has been some legislative progress in public administration reform. The implementation of reforms adopted in previous years has continued. Further efforts are needed in the area of decentralisations."

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08.03.2006 - Source: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung

Administration law reform projekts in Turkey ("Jahresbericht Türkei 2005") [#46724],  [ID 13322]

"Eine umfangreiche Verwaltungsreform wurde in der Türkei in
den letzten Jahren auf den Weg gebracht. Auch wenn noch
nicht alle Gesetze von dem Parlament verabschiedet wurden
und die Implementierung einiger Ausführungsbestimmungen
noch Schwierigkeiten macht, gehen dennoch viele politische
Beobachter von einem Paradigmenwechsel im Jahre 2005 aus.
Die Dezentralisierung mit dem Ziel einer größeren kommunalen
Selbstverwaltung verpflichtet die Kommunen jedoch auch
dazu, vielfältige neue Aufgaben und Kompetenzen wahrzunehmen.
Die KAS hat gemeinsam mit ihrem Partner, dem Türkischen
Städte- und Gemeindeverband (TBB), in Ankara eine
internationale Konferenz zu den Kommunalreformen veranstaltet.
Im Mittelpunkt standen dabei zwei Aspekte: Türkische
Bürgermeister sollten über die Inhalte der neusten umfangreichen
kommunalen Gesetzesänderungen informiert werden
und deutsche und französische Experten stellten zum Vergleich
die Situation in ihren Ländern dar."

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28.12.2005 - Source: BBC News

Controversial law against insults to state or its institutions could be changed according to Turkey's foreign minister suggestions ("Turkey insult law 'may be dumped'") [#40999],  [ID 13323]

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29.06.2005 - Source: Freedom House

Report on Turkish law system ("Countries at the Crossroads 2005") [#41974],  [ID 13320]

for more detailed information seek out original document below

"Turkey's judicial system is characterized by the opposing pulls of, on the one hand, the enlightened reforms passed since 2001 and, on the other, the more traditional attitudes of the court system and especially the judges. While the reforms have increased judicial independence, seriously curbed the role of the military in the justice system, and fundamentally revised the penal code, the judges, prosecutors, and ministry of justice continue to be dominated by pre-reform ideas about defending national integrity, governmental institutions, and Turkish identity. Thus, as in other areas, implementation is the major stumbling block, although not the only one."

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25.05.2005 - Source: Amnesty International

law reform ("Annual Report 2005") [#32304],  [ID 13324]

"Im Jahr 2004 wurden zahlreiche bemerkenswerte Neuerungen eingeführt. So hat man die Staatssicherheitsgerichte abgeschafft und durch Sonderstrafgerichte ersetzt. Internationalem Recht wurde Vorrang vor nationalem Recht eingeräumt und die Todesstrafe aus der Verfassung und dem Strafgesetzbuch gestrichen. Militärangehörige mussten ihre Posten im Türkischen Hochschulrat (YÖK) und dem Hohen Rundfunk- und Fernsehrat (RTÜK), der Medienaufsichtsbehörde des Landes, räumen.

Zu den Gesetzesnovellen gehörten ein neues Pressegesetz, ein neues Vereinsgesetz, eine neue Strafprozessordnung und ein neues Strafgesetzbuch. Alle diese Gesetze enthielten positive Neuerungen und waren großenteils weniger restriktiv als ihre Vorgänger. So wurden zum Beispiel aus dem Strafgesetzbuch viele Paragraphen entfernt, die geschlechtsspezifische Diskriminierung beinhaltet hatten. Außerdem wurde eine Definition der Folter eingeführt, die sich stärker an internationalen Rechtsnormen orientierte. Viele der neuen Gesetze enthielten aber weiterhin Bestimmungen ihrer Vorgänger, auf deren Grundlage fundamentale Rechte in unzulässiger Weise eingeschränkt worden waren. Hinzu kam, dass die Umsetzung der gesetzlichen Neuerungen nicht einheitlich erfolgte und zum Teil offenbar auf den Widerstand staatlicher Funktionsträger stieß.

Es wurde ferner ein Entschädigungsgesetz im Zusammenhang mit Terrorismus und dem Kampf gegen Terrorismus verabschiedet, dessen erklärtes Ziel es war, an Personen finanzielle Wiedergutmachung zu leisten, die in den 1990er Jahren während des bewaffneten Konflikts zwischen der Regierung und der PKK zwangsumgesiedelt worden waren. Menschenrechtsgruppen beanstandeten, dass die in dem Gesetz vorgesehenen Entschädigungssummen zu gering seien, und äußerten die Vermutung, dass mit dem neuen Gesetz Eingaben an den Europäischen Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte verhindert werden sollen."

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Open document

15.02.2005 - Source: Council of Europe - European Commission against Racism and Intolerance

Reform of the Constitution was accompanied by seven packages of legislative reforms ("Third report on Turkey: Adopted on 25 June 2004 and made public on 15 February 2005 [CRI(2005) 5]") [#30573],  [ID 13325]

"10. A thorough overhaul of the Turkish Constitution was effected in October 2001, particularly with a view to strengthening fundamental rights and freedoms. A further revision of ten articles took place in 2004. The reform of the Constitution was accompanied by seven packages of legislative reforms chiefly designed to reflect the basic amendments to the Constitution and thus to extend rights and freedoms in Turkey. ECRI is pleased to learn that Articles 13 and 14 on the restriction of fundamental rights and freedoms have been amended to bring them more closely into line with the provisions of the ECHR. Article 26 on freedom of expression no longer prohibits the use of a language other than Turkish to express and disseminate ideas. The provision of Article 28 on the freedom of the press to the effect that nothing may be published in a language prohibited by law has been repealed2. These amendments lift a major obstacle to the expression of the ethnic and cultural identities of everyone living in Turkey, a development that ECRI welcomes."

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06.10.2004 - Source: European Commission

EU related reforms ("Regular Report 2004 on Turkey´s progress towards accession") [#26161],  [ID 13326]

"Since the previous Regular Report, Parliament has adopted a number of EU related reforms, related to both the Copenhagen political criteria and the European Community acquis. Examples include the Law on the Right to Information (9 October 2003), the Law on the abolition of some of the articles of the Law on NSC and NSC General Secretariat (10 December 2003), the Law on Public Financial Management and Control (10 December 2003), the Law Amending the Law on Banking (12 December 2003), the Law Amending the Law on the Establishment, Duties and Trial Procedures of Juvenile Courts (7 January 2004), the 8th Harmonization Package implementing the Constitutional Amendments of May 2004 (June 2004), the amendments to the Law on Public Employees Trade Unions, the Law on Social Insurance (June 2004), the new Law on Associations (July 2004), the legislative package Reforming Public Administration (July 2004), the Law on Compensation of Losses Resulting from Terrorist Acts (July 2004), the new Penal Code (September 2004) and the Law establishing the Intermediate Courts of Appeal (September 2004)."

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