Turkey removes adultery hurdle to EU entry

During a visit to Brussels on 23 September 2004, the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told the European Commission he would remove from his country's penal code reforms a controversial clause making adultery a criminal offence when the reforms are debated in the Turkish Parliament on 26 September 2004. The European Commissioner for Enlargement, Günter Verheugen, said that he was now in a position to 'make a very clear recommendation' on 6 October 2004 on whether Turkey was ready to start formal accession talks.