Pro-European politicians won a landmark victory in...

Pro-European politicians won a landmark victory in Turkey with the passage of legislative reforms that delighted human rights activists. After a 22-hour debate the Turkish parliament abolished capital punishment, lifted restrictions on the use of the Kurdish language and swept away constraints on free speech.
One human rights activist described the reforms as 'the most positive changes made during the history of the Turkish republic'.
The vote came three days after parliament voted to curtail the life of the government of the ailing Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit, and called for elections in November.
Many of Turkey's pro-European politicians had feared that the elections would deal a death blow to the country's hopes of joining the European Union; the reforms to the penal code were necessary if Turkey was to be considered for membership at the Copenhagen summit at the end of the year.
The largest bloc in parliament, the right-wing Nationalist Action Party (MHP), campaigned against the reforms, arguing that abolition of the death penalty was in effect an amnesty for captured Kurdish paramilitary Abdullah Ocalan and that the use of Kurdish could endanger the country's unity.
The MHP swept to power at the election in 1999 after campaigning for the execution of Ocalan. He was sentenced to death by Turkish courts, but the execution has been stayed pending an appeal.