EU parliament to vote on backing Turkey’s membership bid on eve of key EU
summit
By CONSTANT BRAND
.c The Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) – The European Parliament is expected to call
on EU leaders Wednesday to open membership talks with Turkey, but only
if the country carries out a slew of democratic reforms, including a
zero-tolerance policy against torture.
The 732-member EU assembly meeting in Strasbourg, France, is to vote
on more than 80 amendments to a resolution concerning Turkey’s
ambitions to join the 25-nation bloc. Many of the amendments, drafted
by conservatives and euro-skeptics, call for the EU not to start entry
talks.
The resolution, which the parliament’s influential foreign affairs
committee drafted and passed two weeks ago, is nonbinding. It calls
for EU leaders, who will meet on Thursday and Friday, to “open the
negotiations with Turkey without undue delay” if Ankara meets the
conditions, including economic, political and judicial reforms.
EU leaders will decide during the summit on whether to open talks with
Turkey and when the negotiations should begin.
There has been growing public anxiety within the EU over allowing a
large, poor and predominantly Muslim country to join, and lawmakers
were expected to toughen the conditions in the resolution and try to
influence leaders to do the same during their crucial talks.
Hans-Gert Poettering, leader of the conservative European People’s
Party, the largest group in the parliament, warned of “historical
consequences” if Turkey is allowed to join and said it would change
the EU forever.
“If there are negotiations, then we will negotiate with a country in
which there are enormous human rights violations,” Poettering said
during a debate on Monday.
German and French conservatives have demanded a tougher resolution,
demanding Turkey officially recognize Cyprus as a condition to opening
talks. Other resolutions demand Turkey recognize the killing of
Armenians nearly a century ago as genocide.
One, drafted by French conservative Jacques Toubon, calls on Turkey to
“formally acknowledge the historic reality of the genocide
perpetrated against the Armenians.”
Armenians accuse Turkey of genocide in the killings of up to 1.5
million Armenians as part of a 1915-1923 campaign to force them out of
eastern Turkey.
Ankara vehemently denies the genocide, says the death count is
inflated and that Armenians were killed or displaced along with others
as the Ottoman Empire tried to quell civil unrest.
The question of Turkey recognizing Cyprus has become a key dispute
between Turkey and EU governments ahead of Thursday’s summit, but
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Ankara has no plans to do
so before the meeting.
The island has been divided into a Greek Cypriot-controlled south and
a Turkish-occupied north since Turkey invaded in 1974 after an
abortive coup by supporters of union with Greece. Only Turkey
recognizes the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state, and Ankara does not
recognize the Greek-Cypriot government in the south.
The resolution already says that opening negotiations would
“presuppose recognition by Turkey” of Cyprus, which joined the EU in
May and so would be involved in Turkey’s membership negotiations.
Other amendments, supported by France and Denmark, call for the EU to
prepare a backup plan in case entry talks fail or Turkey backtracks in
democratic reforms.
12/15/04 03:25 EST