To Europe's chagrin, Turkey digs in its heels on terrorism law
By Tulay Karadeniz and Gabriela Baczynska
May 11, 2016
Turkish EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir reacts during a press conference in Helsinki, Finland, March 23, 2016. REUTERS/Jussi Nukari/Lehtikuva
By Tulay Karadeniz and Gabriela Baczynska
ANKARA/STRASBOURG (Reuters) - Turkey refused on Wednesday to make changes to its anti-terrorism laws demanded by Brussels, hardening Ankara's stance in a stand-off with the bloc over dealing with militants, migrants and travel.
EU officials and rights groups have accused Turkey of using its broad anti-terrorism legislation to stifle dissent. Ankara says it needs the laws to battle Kurdish militants at home and threats from Islamic State in neighboring Iraq and Syria.
Brussels wants Turkey to narrow its legal definition of terrorism and change some other laws to meet EU standards - as part of the wide-ranging deal to secure Turkish help in reducing the flow of migrants into Europe.
But Ankara's minister for EU affairs, Volkan Bozkir, told broadcaster NTV on Wednesday there would be no changes to terrorism laws, saying the legislation already met EU standards.
"It is not possible for us to accept any changes to the counter-terrorism law," Bozkir said.
Wednesday's repeated refusal, and Bozkir's assertion that there had never been a deal over the laws, will likely alarm EU officials already worried by the departure of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the main Turkish broker of the accord.
Davutoglu announced last week he would step down from his post, after weeks of tension with President Tayyip Erdogan. On Friday, Erdogan told the European Union that Turkey would not make the changes, saying: "we're going our way, you go yours".
One Erdogan adviser and a member of parliament for the ruling AK Party, Burhan Kuzu, tweeted late on Tuesday: "The European Parliament will discuss the report that will open Europe visa-free for Turkish citizens. If the wrong decision is taken, we will send the refugees."
'PURELY POLITICAL'
Europe is counting on Turkey to maintain the migration deal that has helped to sharply reduce the flow of refugees and migrants via Turkish shores. More than a million people used the route to reach Greece since the start of 2015.
For many Turks, visa-free travel to Europe is the main reward in the deal. But to secure it, Turkey must still meet five of 72 criteria the EU imposes on all states exempt from visas, including a narrower definition of terrorism.
"This is not about meeting the criteria or not, it's a purely political process in which the EU has shown it is prepared to go very far in accepting violations of human rights and freedoms," Malin Bjork, a left-wing European Parliament member from Sweden, told Reuters.
"The migration deal is contrary to international humanitarian law, to the responsibility the EU should take over asylum seekers and refugees," she said.
Rights groups say that Turkey is targeting opposition journalists and Kurdish civilians, among others.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, said on Tuesday he had received "alarming" reports about violations alleged committed by Turkish military and security forces in the largely Kurdish southeast.
Those included reports of unarmed civilians, including women and children, being deliberately shot by snipers and other military, he said.
A spokesman for Turkey's foreign ministry, Tanju Bilgic, rejected the assertions and cited the multiple security threats that Turkey faces, including the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Islamic State and the leftist DHKP-C.
"Our country which is fighting at the same time against terrorist organizations such as PKK, Daesh and DHKP-C, is taking all measures within laws in order to maintain the balance between freedom and security, and to protect the lives of our citizens in the region," he said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
(Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley, Ece Toksabay, Dasha Afanasieva and Tom Miles in Geneva; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
