Current Research
Protection of Human Rights in the South. Europe as a catalyst
REŞAT ARIM.
Turkish Foreign Policy Institute
Ankara
Turkey is negotiating its membership to the European Union since 2005. A summary of the Turkish experience in the field of Human Rights and the its election process is given in the following paragraphs
Human Rights
Since the foundation of the Turkish Republic, Europe played a catalyst role in the protection of human rights. In the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, the Turkish Government pledged to protect the life and freedom of all its inhabitants, without distinction of birth, nationality, language, race or religion. Turkish nationals belonging to non-Muslim minorities would enjoy the same civil and political rights as Muslims. The Turkish Republic was founded as a secular state. It adopted the Swiss Civil Code in 1926. Personal, Family and other civil matters could be regulated in a modern legal framework. In the 1930’s, women obtained the right to vote in elections. Turkey joined the Council of Europe in 1949 and became a party to the 1950 Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Turkey took a step further and became an Associate Member of the European Economic Community in 1963. In 1987 it applied for full membership to the European Union. At that time, Turkey had a legal infrastructure in line with European standards but due to the Cold War conditions, some of its legislation was not up to date with European norms. Therefore it was necessary to make some legislative adjustments to fulfil the Copenhagen political criteria of the European Union. That is why Turkey launched a comprehensive harmonization process. The Turkish Parliament passed a package of constitutional amendments, such as the abolition of the death penalty. These amendments changed the existing legislation to broaden the freedom of expression and of press, to strengthen the freedom of association, assembly and demonstration, to expand cultural rights, and to reinforce gender equality.
Elections in Turkey
Elections are a continuous process in the political life of a country. They show the fluctuations that the country undergoes. Each consecutive election adds to the development of the country. The Turkish case is a good illustration of this phenomenon.
The first multiparty elections were held in 1946 and the ruling Republican People’s Party was the winner. But it was already clear that the rural population was going to influence the political process. Consequently, in the 1950 elections, the opposition Democratic Party had a landslide victory; they benefited from the reaction of the elitist, bureaucratic administration in Ankara. They went on to win the 1954 and 1957 elections, the Democratic Party got heavy-handed and the military intervened in 1960. A new Constitution was designed to prevent strong party rule, and a Senate and Constitutional Court were established. It was a liberal Constitution, yet its measures made it difficult to govern. Shaky coalition governments, chaos and street battles between extreme right and left followed. The military intervened once again to stop the bloodshed. This time a new Constitution was adopted to prevent the abuse of the liberal political process. The Electoral Law had a threshold of 10%
The July 22 elections in Turkey gave victory to the Justice and Development Party, in power. The elections also reflected the tremendous urbanization of the country. Major cities doubled their population, internal markets and civil society developed.
The elections brought to the front, the debate on a new Constitution. The Government party initiated a move to draft a new Constitution. Many people thought that the 1982 Constitution, promulgated following the military rule, had to be replaced. It was already amended several times, mostly to suit the Copenhagen criteria of the European Union. At this juncture, participatory democracy is required; Civil Society demands that the new Constitution allow the participation of all segments of society.
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- Origin CERMAM
- http://www.cermam.org/en/logs/research/protection_of_human_rights_in/
- Publié le 29 November 2007