Turkish Press
Oct 2 2005
New Legislation Year Starts
ARINC DRAWS ATTENTION TO CRITICAL DAYS IN TURKEY’S EU BID
ANKARA – Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc said on Saturday
that Turkey had its most critical days regarding its EU bid, adding
”Europe is being tested for honesty, equity and objectivity. We see
and denounce those who try to impede Turkey’s membership to the EU by
taking some political maneuvers.”
The new parliamentary term started the same day and the parliamentary
general assembly convened under the leadership of Arinc.
Addressing the parliament, Arinc said that Turkey would not cope with
terrorism by restricting freedoms. ”This parliament should give the
best response to terrorism by staying in solidarity,” Arinc said.
Referring to Turkey’s EU bid, Arinc said that the Turkish people had
difficulty in understanding the hypocrisy shown by EU towards Turkey.
Arinc stressed that Turkey was a big state and it had the power to
change some balances, adding that Europe was on the eve of taking an
important decision.
”Europe will either accept our membership, adapt itself to the
change in the world and get stronger or will impede our membership by
looking inwards and loose its impact on world politics. Turkey’s
membership means the integration of the east and the west and the
meeting of civilizations,” Arinc said.
Denouncing the attempt to bring claims like Armenian genocide onto
the agenda prior to Oct. 3rd, Arinc said that the Turkish parliament
would not accept a crime which its ancestors didn’t commit just to be
a member of the European Union.