EP FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE TO DEBATE REPORT ON TURKEY’S 2007 PROGRESS MAY 21

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.05.2008 14:42 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee
will debate May 21 a report on Turkey’s 2007 progress. "Transform
priorities and time-lines into reform plans," the Foreign Affairs
Committee urged Turkey, in its latest progress report.

The committee welcomes several recent legislative activities of Turkey,
while insisting that the speed of reforms must pick up. The report
"welcomes the commitment of Prime Minister Erdogan that 2008 is
going to be the year of reforms" and "urges the Turkish government
to fulfill its promises" by implementing them.

The report has been amended considerably since it was put on the
agenda on April 21.

As the European Armenian Federation said earlier, the "new preparatory
document seems to be less brief than the former one which essentially
aimed at exhibiting a gesture of goodwill towards the new elected
Turkish government. Nevertheless, it remains well short of European
expectations by continuing in minimizing the serious breaches of
Turkey."

In the "external relations" chapter, the draft report "calls on
the Turkish government to end the economic blockade and re-open its
border with Armenia" but, in accordance with the rest of the document,
abstains from condemning Turkey. The Armenian Genocide issue is dodged
by a wording which "calls on the Turkish and Armenian governments to
start a process of reconciliation, in respect of the present and the
past, allowing for a frank and open discussion of past events".

"This wording is typically dictated by Ankara: by refusing to mention
the Genocide, it is denialist; by sending away Turkey and Armenia, the
genocide is rooted out from the political scene and from the context
of International Law in order to consider it as a tool of the only
conflict between a criminal state and its victims", commented Hilda
Tchoboian, the chairperson of the European Armenian Federation.