BIM Annual Report 2008 - Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für ...

BIM Annual Report 2008
European Neighbourhood and Integration Policy
Turkey – A Country at the Gateway to Europe, Part II: Democracy, the Rule of Law
and Human Rights in Turkey’s New Draft Constitution
Summary
Following the symposium "Turkey – A Country at the Gateway to Europe: The Status quo of Human
Rights in Turkey" in May 2006, and in the light of the current debate in Turkey regarding a new draft
constitution, the workshop “Democracy, the Rule of Law and Human Rights in Turkey’s New Draft
Constitution” took place in Vienna on 15 and 16 November 2008.
The political and legal situation in Turkey and Turkey’s potential EU membership have been the topic
of ongoing debates for many years now, which have even intensified with the awarding of EU candidate
status to Turkey in 2006 and the AKP government’s efforts for a constitution that is compliant with
EU standards.
The workshop therefore aimed at contributing to that process on a scientific level by comparing the
new Turkish draft constitution to European constitutions, analysing them with regard to European standards
of democratic participation and warranties of human rights, identifying eventual differences or
shortcomings and elaborating recommendations for harmonisation.
Members of the Turkish parliament, Turkish and Austrian human rights experts as well as human rights
activists were taking part as speakers in the workshop. Within the tree thematic blocks “Democracy
and Constitution in Turkey”, “Rule of Law, Basic Liberties and Fundamental Rights Protection in the
Turkish Constitution”, and “Rights of Ethnic and Cultural Groups”, the participants discussed the requirements
for a profound constitutional reform as well as the internal and external reasons for the
slowing down of the process towards a new constitution since the publication of the draft in September
2007.
The contributions and results of the workshop will be published in 2009.
Countries
Persons
involved
Austria, Turkey
Concept
Coordination, realisation
Mustafa Akgün, Hannes Tretter
Margit Braun, Serap Devletli, Salomea Krobath,
Fiona Steinert, Katharina Wölfel
Contact person
Katharina Wölfel, katharina.wölfel@univie.ac.at
Lead
organisation
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute
of Human Rights –
Research Association
Partner
organisations
Renner Institute
Starting/
end date
Funded by
Workshop: 15 and 16 November 2008
Austrian Federal Chancellery
City of Vienna – MA 7, Sciences
City of Vienna – Magistrate Department for Foreign Affairs
Renner Institute
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