EU's Turkey deadline

LONDON: Turkey will have two years to eliminate torture, establish freedom of religion and assert civilian control over the military if it wants to become a member of the European Union in 10 years.The deadline is set in a European Commission checklist of about 150 conditions it will give Turkey this month.
The draft document, seen by London's Financial Times, is aimed at easing EU voters' concerns about Turkey's potential membership.
Turkey will have to "ensure implementation ... of the 'zero tolerance' policy against torture" and "to adopt a law comprehensively addressing all the difficulties faced by non-Muslim religious minorities and communities," the draft says, according to the paper. During the same period, Ankara must establish full parliamentary oversight of military and defence policy, abolish any remaining competence of military courts to try civilians and ensure the independence of the judiciary.