“It would be a mistake to try to restore it (adultery) to the criminal code,” said Verheugen

ANKARA, September 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The European Union has given Turkey one month to scrap its proposal to reinstate a prison punishment for adultery as the country awaits a crucial October 6 report by the EU Commission that will recommend whether or not to launch membership talks, a leading British newspaper reported Monday, September 13.

The deadline came as Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the father of Europe's new constitution, has acknowledged that the wording of the draft charter effectively diminishes Turkey's chances of success in its 40-year quest to join the euro block.

EU officials warned that if Turkey has not renounced the adultery clause, the Commission will probably deny the country the clear endorsement it seeks, well-placed sources told the British Financial Times newspaper.

“The adultery proposal is clearly a tactical mistake by the Turks,” one EU official told the British daily.

“If they pushed this through a couple of weeks before the Commission recommendation, it would simply make things more complicated for them.”

That could result in a delay in the start of negotiations or even a move by EU leaders to defer the decision over whether to begin talks, the sources added.

The Commission’s recommendation will be based on Turkey's progress on human rights and democratic reforms, and many officials are worried that the adultery proposals are “intolerant and invasive”.

The recommendation will serve as a basis for a final decision on December 17 by European leaders on whether to set a date for the start of negotiations.

Günter Verheugen, EU enlargement commissioner, openly and strongly criticized the adultery clause during a fact-finding trip to Turkey last week.

“I cannot understand how a measure like this could be considered at such a time,” Verheugen said. “It can only be a joke... It would be a mistake to try to restore it (adultery) to the criminal code.”

In an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper Saturday, September 11, Verheugen said that after 40 years of promises the EU could not refuse Ankara 's application, but added Turkey would not join before 2015.

Adultery was a crime in the Turkish penal code until it was deleted for men in 1996 and for women in 1998.

The Islamic-oriented ruling Justice and Development (AKP) party has proposed reinstating the prison punishment.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a devout Muslim who says the measure aims to “protect the unity of the family,” has so far refused to back down despite the national and international uproar.

Crucial Session

Erdogan says the adultery clause aims to “protect the unity of the family”

Yet, the Turkish Parliament is set to start Tuesday, September 14, a crucial session to address the adultery proposal and amend nearly all 348 articles of the penal code copied in 1926 from that of Benito Mussolini's Italy.

Although it has seen several changes in the past, the code remains an obstacle to Turkey's European aspirations and the new draft provides for greater individual freedoms, bans torture and provides heavy sentences for “crimes of honor”, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The adultery clause has already caused a furor among liberals, feminists and most of the media.

Within the same context, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said Sunday, September 12, in Brussels that passage of the bill as it stands would be a “serious obstacle” to Turkey's EU bid, because it “doesn't correspond with joining” the Union.

Other clauses in the section of the draft dealing with “crimes against the family” are also a source of controversy, such as one providing up to two years' jail for sexual relations between minors under the age of 18.

Slim Chance

“This is a rule we can't change,” said Giscard

More disappointing news forTurkey , d'Estaing has acknowledged that Turkey stands a slim chance to join the newly-enlarged union.

In an interview with the International Herald Tribune, d'Estaing suggested that a key provision of the constitution, known as double-majority voting, could kill Turkey's effort to join because the country's projected population at the time membership talks could be completed, in 10 to 15 years, might exceed that of every other member state.

“This is a rule we can't change,” said Giscard, who presided over the 18-month convention that drafted the charter.

He said the consequences of Turkish membership under the new system would be “much greater” than under current rules.

“With accession, Turkey would become the most populous country in the EU with the greatest voting power in the council,” he said.

While he stopped short of saying that the new voting rule had been designed to make it harder for Turkey to join the EU, others who worked with him on the constitutional treaty suggested that it had.

“I would say that the proposal was not tabled in innocence, and having been a member of the convention, I know what I'm saying,” said Ana Palacio, the former Foreign Minister of Spain and a member of the draft committee.

“I strongly believe that it is in the EU interest to have Turkey as a member, but under the double-majority arrangement, Turkey has no chance of ever joining.”

The constitutional treaty, which was agreed on by leaders in June but still must be ratified by all 25 member states, links decision-making in the union more explicitly to population than does the current voting system, giving bigger countries more power than their smaller neighbors.

With 70 million inhabitants,Turkey is already the second-most populous country in the region, behind Germany with 82 million; by 2020, Turkey 's population is projected to reach 85 million, while Germany's is expected to ease slightly, according to United Nations estimates.