Human Rights And Discrimination Issues In The Eu Integration Process Of Muslim Balkan States And Turkey

Turkey has received a great deal of attention lately as a result of its unsuccessful efforts to join the European Union (EU). European leaders have indicated that before Turkey can join, it must improve its human rights record. This article will examine the relationship between human rights issues in Turkey and its ability to meet international standards necessary for membership in the EU. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate a clear image of the stage to which the Western Balkan Muslim States and Turkey arrived on their way towards the European Integration, with a close view to the connection between the enlargement policy as a constitutive element of the European Construction and the necessity to ensure a stable security environment in the community space. I set myself by this approach to highlight both the challenges in integrating multiethnic states, the attitudes of Muslim populations issues such as religion identity, political participation, human rights and discrimination. I have chosen to analyze separately the project of the enlargement in the Western Balkans and the one of the enlargement in Turkey. It posits that the spreading of Muslims across Europe is not only on a speech act but also on a policy-making characterized by some specific features, which may determine different security costs and gains for the EU. The EU symbolically opened membership talks with Turkey in October 2005, but a number of stumbling blocks remain on Ankara's road to EU accession, in particular concerning trade links with Cyprus, freedom of expression and the rights of the Kurdish minority. The European Council decided in December 2004 to open accession negotiations with Turkey in October the following year. Nevertheless, practical negotiations on the 35 chapters of the acquis communautaire only began in June 2006. So far, only one chapter (science and research) has been provisionally closed. Twelve more have been opened, but eight remain blocked over Turkey's failure to implement the Ankara Protocol, which states that access should be granted and ports opened to products coming from the Republic of Cyprus. According to Turkey's chief negotiator Egemen Bagiş, five chapters are being blocked by France, three by Austria and Germany, and two by Cyprus. The reform impetus has also been waning in Turkey as a result of the increasingly critical stance of key players like France and Germany, which are sceptical of Turkey's credentials as a European country and its ability to fulfil the accession criteria.