Turkish president approves EU rights laws

Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has approved laws aimed at meeting European Union rights criteria after parliament overrode…

Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has approved laws aimed at meeting European Union rights criteria after parliament overrode his earlier veto.

Mr Sezer had rejected the package late last month but was obliged to sign it this time. He had objected to scrapping a law banning separatist propaganda that has been used to jail academics, journalists and radicals.

The former judge said he feared lifting the ban would threaten national unity.

The EU wants to see political reforms introduced before beginning full membership talks with Muslim Turkey, which is the only candidate not negotiating its entry into the union.

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The Turkish government has said it will push another reform package through parliament this month, and the assembly has cancelled its July recess to work on the legislation.

Mr Sezer also approved a controversial law today permitting the government to sell state-forested land as it searches for revenues under tight IMF-backed budgetary constraints.

Opposition lawmakers and other observers have said the law could threaten natural habitats and reserves.