BAKU: Govt Failed to Read Carefully the EU Comm. Report on Turkey

Star, Turkey
Nov. 1, 2004

CHP DEPUTY CHAIRMAN: `THE GOVT FAILED TO READ CAREFULLY THE EU
COMMISSION REPORT ON TURKEY’

Onur Oymen, deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s
Party (CHP) as well as Turkey’s ambassador to NATO, over the weekend
charged that the government had signed the EU Commission’s recent
report on Turkey without reading it carefully enough. `Joining the EU
without the report being corrected would be a mistake,’ he said.
`Open-ended negotiations cannot be accepted. Moreover, the report
recommends permanently restricting Turkish workers’ right to free
movement. The commission’s recommendation is full of traps. The right
to free movement is one of the Union’s basic principles, so this
condition is unacceptable. Besides, the EU Commission also recommended
that Turkey re-open trade with Armenia. In signing the report, the
government neglected these important points.’ /Star/