Turkish PM promises to speed up reforms for EU

By Selcuk Gokoluk

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday his government would speed up political reforms required to join the European Union after stalling for months amid opposition from nationalist parties.

Erdogan told his AK Party, facing a closure case in the Constitutional Court for alleged Islamist activities, that parliament would pass next week an amendment to a law criticized by the EU and human rights groups as limiting free speech.

"Other steps which will bring Turkish democracy forward will follow this on a fast track," he said without elaborating.

Ankara began coveted EU membership negotiations in late 2005, but membership talks have been held back by the continued division of Cyprus, slow progress in EU-mandated reforms and frosty attitudes in EU countries such as France.

The EU has said the free speech reform is a crucial test of the predominantly Muslim but secular country's commitment to political reform.

Speaking in Brussels, European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn gave a cautious welcome to the proposed amendment.

"It was good news to hear today of the initiative in the Turkish parliament to amend articles of the Turkish penal code on the freedom of expression," Rehn said at the opening of an Istanbul Centre in Brussels.

"Provided that the reform succeeds in ensuring the freedom of expression, it will be good news for Turkey and its European perspective," he said, two days before accompanying European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on an official visit to Ankara.