The mountain gave birth to a mouse. The new millennium wasn’t dramatically different from the previous one for those in Turkey and the rest of the world—except for Galatasaray's UEFA victory and Turkey’s EU candidacy.
However, one topic was frequently discussed in Turkey at the time: the Copenhagen criteria.
Turkey was a founding member of the Council of Europe and, in principle, committed to human rights, the rule of law, and the separation of powers. However, European Union membership demanded much more.
The European Union was within reach, closer than it once seemed. However, remnants in the Turkish Penal Code, ranging from capital punishment to the criminalisation of extra-marital sexual intercourse, did not reflect Turkey's realities at the time. Furthermore, torture continued, and hunger strikes against F-type prisons escalated into death fasts.
Heinrich Böll Stiftung Turkey, a consistent advocate for Turkey's EU membership, organised a symposium that year in collaboration with the Istanbul Bar Association, chaired by constitutional law scholar İbrahim Kaboğlu.
In the years that followed, as the abstract concept of “human rights” became tangible for political subjects—ranging from minorities to gender identities, from diverse ethnicities to faith groups—the debate intensified. Turkey would face a challenging yet transformative test.
1 – The receipt for the deposit hbs Istanbul paid when moving to the Gümüşsuyu office. The amount was 1,350 dollars, which, before six zeros were removed from the currency, equaled 899 million Turkish Lira. At that time, the price of bread was 375 thousand Turkish Liras. (hbs) 2 – A pioneering and forward-thinking initiative against violence against women: The Alo Violence Hotline. (Milliyet) 3 – İsmail Cem became the first Turkish Foreign Minister to officially visit Greece in 40 years. The spirit of friendship would endure for a long time, bolstered by the neighbour's aid during the 1999 Marmara earthquake. (innoutworld.blogspot) 4 – Ankara Ulucanlar Prison in the aftermath of operation “Return to Life”, whose human rights violations were repeatedly reported by defenders in the following years. The prison was closed in 2006 and later turned into a museum. (AA/Ali Can Bulut)