Brussels, 30/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Union has voiced its concern at the situation in Turkey after the first round of presidential elections on Saturday, during which the only candidate, the current Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullah Gül, failed to become elected, whilst the opposition brought the matter to the Constitutional Court to invalidate the first round, stating that the necessary quorum of two thirds had not been achieved. The Constitutional Court is to return its verdict this Tuesday or Wednesday. The crisis is also seen in Brussels as a “test” of whether the Turkish armed forces will respect the democratic secularity and democratic organisation of relations between the civil and military powers, according to Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn. On Saturday, the Commissioner said that he was “astonished” at the previous evening's warning by the Turkish military headquarters against any calling into question of the principle of secularity in force in the country. The intervention of the chief of the army was interpreted as a warning to the government to withdraw Mr Gül's candidacy, as he is from the Islamic-Conservative party in power. The government replied in no uncertain terms, stating that “it is inconceivable that in a democratic State of law, the military, an institution which remains under the orders of the Prime Minister, can say such things” (our translation).
This position is entirely shared by Commissioner Rehn, who stressed that it is “important that the army leaves the prerogatives of democracy to the elected government, and this represents a test as to whether the Turkish armed forces can respect democratic secularity and the democratic organisation of relations between the civil and military powers”. The question of relations between the army and civil society in Turkey, one of the key criteria in the negotiations for Turkish accession to the EU, which started in 2005, is one of the recurring problems identified by the Commission. In its most recent follow-up report in November 2006, the Commission already lamented the lack of progress made in aligning relations between civil society and the army on practices in force in the EU. It also called for additional efforts to be made to impose the authority of civil powers on the army.
In a declaration published on behalf of the EU on 29 April, the German Presidency also stressed that the EU is “closely following developments” and that it “expects all those responsible in the political sphere to play their part in ensuring that the presidential elections are carried out in accordance with the principles of democracy and the rule of law laid down in the Constitution”. “The Presidency considers it particularly important that the elections and the Constitutional Court should not be influenced by external pressure”, the declaration reads. (hb)