Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may in the coming weeks have serious difficulties winning over discontented segments of the society, as well as the political groups within the EU, which apparently were not impressed with his long-awaited "democracy package."

The 21-point declaration for reform was anticipated with expectations raised, mainly by the delay of the AKP and Erdoğan’s promiseful rhetoric. Though he tried to tone it down, it was tightly linked to the so-called "Peace Process" with the outlawed PKK, and its political wing, the BDP. The government, keen on the conservative-nationalist sensitivities on the issue, covered a broad range of issues, such as hate crime and privacy.

Reactions, generally cool at home and within EU circles, varied between cautious optimism, disappointment, suspicion and rejection.

"The announced measures hold out the prospect of progress on a range of important issues, including use of languages other than Turkish in a number of instances and minority rights such as the case of the Mor Gabriel Monastery," said Peter Stano, spokesman of Štefan Füle, member of the EC in charge of Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy.