the helsinki european council of december nineteen ninety-nine granted turkey the status of candidate country and accession negotiations with turkey were opened in october two thousand and five
the commission has reported regularly to the council and parliament on turkish progress towards meeting the copenhagen criteria
it remains crucial that turkey improves its administrative capacity to implement and enforce eu-related legislation
on nine november the commission published the twenty ten progress report on turkey
the report covers the period from early october two thousand and nine to october twenty ten and progress is measured on the basis of decisions taken legislation adopted and measures implemented
turkey has pursued its political reform process in particular through the reform of its constitution and continues to sufficiently fulfil the political criteria
the constitutional amendments adopted by referendum on twelve september created the conditions for progress in a number of areas such as the judiciary fundamental rights and public administration
the implementation of the constitutional changes in a transparent and inclusive way is essential for turkish progress
the democratic opening aimed notably at addressing the kurdish issue has not yet met expectations
the decision of the constitutional court to close down the democratic society party and a surge in pkk terrorist attacks also undermined this policy
significant reforms are still required on fundamental rights in particular in the area of freedom of expression
the high number of legal suits against journalists and undue pressure on the media undermine freedom of the press in practice
with regard to regional issues and international obligations it is now urgent that turkey fulfils its obligation of full non-discriminatory implementation of additional protocols to the association agreement
the commission has recommended that if there is no progress on this issue the measures adopted by the european union in two thousand and six should be upheld
this will affect the overall progress of the negotiations
turkey has continued to express public support for the negotiations under the auspices of the united nations between the leaders of the greek cypriot and turkish cypriot communities to reach a comprehensive settlement of the cyprus problem
however there has been no progress towards normalisation of bilateral relations with the republic of cyprus
as regards the economic criteria for accession to the european union turkey continues to be a functioning market economy that can cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the union
turkey has witnessed strong economic growth in twenty ten recouping the losses incurred during the financial crisis but the process of privatisation and structural reform needs to continue
turkey continued improving its ability to take on the obligations of membership by aligning its laws and regulations with those of the european union
two negotiating chapters were opened during this reporting period environment and food safety adding to a total of thirteen chapters that are currently open
important progress has been made on energy security with the ratification of the intergovernmental agreement on nabucco and on cooperation in the aviation sector with initialisation of the eu-turkey horizontal aviation agreement
much alignment remains to be done particularly on fisheries social policies justice and home affairs and the customs union where longstanding trade issues remain unresolved
