‘TURKISH ACCESSION DANGER FOR EUROPE, ILLUSION FOR TURKEY’
Fulya Ozerkan
Turkish Daily News
Oct 30 2006
Jacques Toubon, French member of the European Parliament, voiced
strong opposition to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, defending
privileged partnership for Ankara instead of full membership.
"Our position is to be against full accession of Turkey into the
EU and in favor of privileged partnership. We think Europe will no
longer be Europe we want if Turkey becomes a full member of the bloc,"
Toubon, a Christian Democrat, former French minister of budget and
spokesperson of President Jacques Chirac’s government, told a group
of Turkish reporters here.
The European parliamentarian argued that Turkey was not European in any
sense and accused one of the Turkish reporters of being provocative
when they asked if Turkey and Greek Cyprus were located on the same
longitude, how was it possible to say that Turkey did not belong to
Europe geographically, while the latter did.
"In Turkey this EU issue is a fantasy… The EU accession is not
[your] only destiny. You have a good future without the EU. Turkey’s
accession is a danger for Europe and an illusion for Turkey," he said.
"Why is Article 301 already on the penal code? It is a question of
national sovereignty. Are you ready to abandon your sovereignty? Are
you ready to get rid of your principals?" he asked.
Toubon also criticized the French bill penalizing any denial of the
alleged Armenian genocide, saying: "I’m strongly against it. History
is not made by law. History is made by facts. If we want to discuss
[history] we have to avoid provocation."
He also stressed the EU was not a Christian club and said if Turkey
remained as regional power and privileged partner of the EU, the bloc
would then have a strong ally "in this crucial region of the world."