Turkey Backtracks on Adultery Law Amid EU Pressure

THE MUSLIM WEEKLY 2004
Turkey has made an abrupt u-turn on legislation to criminalise adultery. The plan was dropped on Tuesday after several EU foreign ministers warned that if the law was passed, it could affect Turkey’s accession to the European Union (EU).

The proposal had prescribed up to 2 years in prison for any man or woman found guilty. In consideration of recent strides that have been made to join the EU despite years of agonising, (The improvement in human rights and anti-repression measures towards the Kurdish minority being examples), it was thought bringing about the law would be too high a price to pay despite an opinion poll suggesting the public was 80% in favour of the move.

Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, frequently described as a devout Muslim had described the proposed law as a social measure to protect women from deception when previously questioned. However, women’s groups and liberal commentators suspected it to be used against women and a move to Islamicise the country. The EU Commissioner Gunther Verheugen on a recent visit to Turkey described it as a mistake and even as a joke, “I cannot understand how a measure like this could be considered at such a time” he quipped. When the Commissioner met Prime Minister Erdogan, an official revealed he'd told him to dump the proposed law. Europe, he said, “Was different when it came to these matters.”

Reasoning put forward was that a precondition for joining is having a relatively similar legal code. Nevertheless, there is nothing in EU law that would have prevented Turkey making adultery a criminal offence. Furthermore, there are already many social and legal differences between the EU's member states. For example, in the Netherlands euthanasia is commonly and legally practised whereas in many other states it is strictly illegal. Therefore, the opposition is thought to be political rather than legal.

Others see this as an example of the EU being wilfully disingenuous on accepting Turkey into the EU, adhering to a consistent pattern ever since it’s inception. Many Westerners believe joining the EU is an opportunity for Turkey to strengthen their democratic structures. Thus, protecting individual freedom being paramount in that objective.

The Turkish government on its account gave every impression of being baffled by the uproar, suggesting that they wouldn’t have proposed the law if they had known. The EU on their part, were equally baffled considering it came less than a month before the Commission’s report. Nevertheless, despite the ruling AK party receiving 20% of its vote from religious conservatives, many of the reforms of recent years have passed over the heads of the people, coming down from the EU straight to the government.

This backtrack is starkly different from Turkey’s recent spat with the US where the Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul is reported to have admonished Secretary Powell after US forces were reported to have killed members of the ethnic Turkmen community in Talafar, Northern Iraq. As Turkey deems the region to be within its sphere of influence, it reportedly threatened to suspend all co-operation, thereby putting a vital transit route in jeopardy for the American forces.