Ankara - As political distractions go, the court case to close down Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was up there with the biggest.

Ever since the Constitutional Court, in a case called by the party's political opponents, decided in July not to close down the AKP, momentum toward joining the EU seems to have stalled.

In September, the EU issued its progress report on Turkey's membership bid. For supporters of Turkish membership it was depressing reading.

The report lists in detail the areas where Turkey has failed to move: no progress on lifting immunity of parliamentarians; no progress on strengthening parliamentary oversite over public expenditure; limited progress in the area of anti-corruption; no progress on ensuring cultural diversity; and failure to adequately monitor legal changes designed to stop torture.

"Despite its strong political mandate, the government did not put forward a consistent and comprehensive programme of political reforms," the report said.

The failures have led to a loss in support from liberal circles, who believed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had abandoned his party's roots in Islamic politics and was truly committed to pursuing Turkey's bid to join the EU.

Whilst the court case was cited by pro-government circles as a major reason why reforms had slowed down, one hint that the government was ready to junk major reforms came separately, when the ruling administration abandoned plans to overhaul the 1982 military- imposed constitution to focus on legislation allowing women to wear Islamic-style headscarves at universities.

With the help of a far-right party, which vehemently opposed a new constitution, the AKP managed to make constitutional changes to allow the headscarf to be worn at tertiary institutions. These changes were later thrown out by the Constitutional Court, which said they were against the principles of secular state.

Some point out that the government has made reforms to some of the most notorious articles of the criminal code, in particular Article
301, which makes it a crime to "insult Turkishness or state institutions." The article is often used to silence writers.

But the reforms have merely been window dressing, according to many commentators and EU politicians.

"They changed Article 301, but then opened 47 cases," European parliamentarian Joost Lagendijk said in Ankara in November. Lagendijk was referring to the fact that it is now up to the Justice Minister to personally approve any prosecutions.

"The prior authorization requirement opens up the possibility that the article will become subject to political consideration," the EU progress report said. In one case, authorization has been given for charges to be laid against a Turkish writer who said that the massacres of Armenians during the First World War constituted genocide.

For some the government's lack of progress shows that the AKP has never really believed in Turkey joining the European Union.

"The (AKP) duck behind the European Union negotiations so that no one can accuse them of having Islamist tendencies," said Hasan Unal, a professor at Gazi University in Ankaar, who argues that the AKP itself does not believe in European values and culture. "They don't believe in the European process, but they have to keep it going."

Local elections are coming up in March and the AKP has high hopes of wrestling victories in some big municipalities across Turkey. With polls showing a drop in the public's support for Turkey's EU bid, it is doubtful the government will make any big moves soon. That does not sit well with Europeans who would like to see bolder moves out of Ankara.

"The Turkish government does not have the luxury of delaying reforms by using the local elections as an excuse," said Lagendijk.

Then there is the world financial crisis that may result in the government going slow on reform. "The crisis couldn't have come to Turkey at any time worse than this for the AKP," Unal said.

One issue that has not been debated much in Turkey is the refusal of Turkey to recognize EU member Cyprus, nor to allow Cypriot shipping to use Turkish ports. The issue has resulted in the EU suspending accession talks in eight policy areas and hampers Turkey's efforts to push membership talks further.

There is no prospect of the government budging on the issue until a solution is found to the Cyprus problem. Unal says that the government would be committing "political suicide" if it allowed Greek Cypriot ships into Turkish ports.

To use a phrase that was used over and over again in the EU's Sepember report, "little progress has been made." The question now is whether the government, now seven years old and showing increasing signs of tiredness, is ready for a new push in 2009. (dpa)