The European Union and Turkish accession human rights and the Kurds - Yildiz, Kerim (Pluto Press, 2008)
Includes bibliographical references and index
Introduction ---- I. Background. 1. The Kurds --- 2. The Turkish Republic ---- II. Turkey and the EU. 1. The route to accession --- 2. The opening of formal EU accession negotiations --- 3. Turkey's EU bid in a wider political context --- 4. Fulfillment of the Copenhagen Criteria for EU accession? III. Civil and Political Rights in Turkey. 1. The pro-EU reform process --- 2. Torture and 'zero tolerance' --- 3. Freedom of expression, publishing and the media --- 4. Civil society in Turkey --- 5. Political participation ---- IV. Cultural and Minority Rights in Turkey. 1. Cultural and linguistic rights --- 2. EU reforms --- 3. Minority rights standards in Turkey --- 4. Definitional issues --- 5. Substantive rights ---- V. Conflict in the Southeast. 1. Origins and development of the conflict --- 2. Resolving the conflict --- 3. The EU and the conflict in the southeast --- 4. The Kurdish question from a Turkish perspective ---- VI. The International Dimension to the conflict. 1. Turkey and Kurdistan, Iraq --- 2. Turkish military activity in Kurdistan, Iraq --- 3. Turkey, Iran and Syria ---- VII. The Military and the Islamist Movement. 1. Secularists vs Islamists --- 2. The Islamist movement, human rights and the Kurdish issue --- 3. The AKP, Turkey and the Military ---- VIII. Internal Displacement. 1. Background to displacement --- 2. Conditions and difficulties faced by internally displaced persons --- 3. The government response to displacement --- 4. State impediments to return --- 5. The international response to internal displacement in Turkey ---- IX. The EU and the Kurds. 1. Europe's role in solving the Kurdish question --- 2. Assessment of the EU's approach --- 3. The Kurdish perspective on EU accession ---- X. The Future of EU Accession. 1. Human Rights and EU Accession --- 2. Implications of the Accession Process
The EU accession process will shape Turkey's future and, in particular, its potential to become a pluralist, democratic state with respect for international human rights. In this timely survey, Kerim Yildiz and Mark Muller explain and analyze the process of accession focusing primarily on these associated human rights obligations and the extent of their implementation in Turkey. "The European Union and Turkish Accession" addresses the variety of groups in Turkey who are affected by these negotiations and details the background of the Kurdish people - the largest minority group in Turkey - and their relationship to the Turkish republic. This book is essential for students studying EU enlargement, particularly the human rights issues around the Turkish Accession, and those interested in the ongoing struggle of the Kurds. -- Publisher description