Brussels, 14/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - "At the point we have reached, penalising adultery is no longer likely", said a Turkish diplomat in Brussels on Tuesday afternoon, thus confirming statements by the leader of the opposition to the Grand National Assembly, Deniz Baykal. With the Parliament starting to debate the reform of the penal code on Tuesday, the majority and opposition parties got together and decided not to table the highly controversial article on the criminalisation of adultery, said Mr Baykal, quoted by several media. Only provisions co-signed by Prime Minister Recep Erdogan's AKP party and the Social Democratic CHP party will be tabled. Nonetheless, the Turkish diplomat showed caution, warning that until the debates were over, it could not be ruled out altogether that a group of MPs might put the adultery proposal on the table.
Three weeks ahead of the opinion to be returned by the European Commission, these plans were ill-timed to say the least. On a visit to Ankara last week, European Commissioner for Enlargement, Günter Verheugen, told his interlocutors as much, sharing his concerns with them (EUROPE of 10 September, p.5). Adultery has not been considered a crime in Turkey since 1996, further to a decision by the Supreme Court.
The European Council is to take position on 17 December on the opening of negotiations with Turkey, on the basis of the report by the European Commission. This decision is highly controversial. At the Copenhagen European Council of December 2002, the Member States undertook to start negotiations "as soon as possible", if the European Commission stated in its report that Turkey is respecting human rights, under the so-called Copenhagen criteria. Whilst it is anticipated that the European Commission will give its green light, two Commissioners have just shown their strong disagreement (EUROPE of 11 September, p.5). Public opinion is also very much divided (EUROPE of 10 September, p.5).