ABSTRACT
As Turkey began its journey down the path to formal accession to the European Union in October 2005, a number of issues were clearly on the agenda for further significant change if Turkey, a country of nearly 72 million persons, was to satisfy the EU entry criteria. One of these issues was the strengthening of civilian authority and democratic control over Turkey’s security forces. Another was the incidence of the use of torture and other arbitrary punishments by police and other members of security forces. In its 2007 report, Human Rights Watch reported on a “sharp increase in indiscriminate and disproportionate use of lethal force by security forces in dealing with protestors, as well as during normal policing” during the preceding year (Human Rights Watch 2007). Achieving change in Turkish policing, it will be shown, has been, and continues to be, a slow process, due partly to some unique internal characteristics as well as to its geographical location adjacent to one of the world’s most volatile political regions. As recent events continue to suggest, the nature of modern Turkey, the directions it is taking in terms of political and social reform, and the role and significance of the Turkish military establishment, present the outsider with a confusing, even contradictory, sense of how much and how quickly the EU accession agenda will be realized in the coming years.
