EARLY EU WARNING FOR ANKARA
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Sept 27 2006
The European Parliament approved on Wednesday a report on Turkey,
after dropping a section making recognition of the so-called Armenian
genocide a precondition for membership, but stressed that "it is
indispensable for a country on the road to membership to come to
terms with and recognize its past."
The report drawn up by Dutch conservative MEP Camiel Eurlings passed
easily by a vote of 429-71 among the 625 deputies present. There were
125 abstentions.
The MEPs rejected an amendment proposing a special partnership for
Turkey, in lieu of full membership, but underlined that the accession
talks are an open-ended process whose outcome cannot be guaranteed
beforehand.
While the EP withdrew the most contentious issue of making recognition
of the Armenian genocide claims a precondition for membership, it
criticized Turkey for its policy on this historical issue as well as
its policy towards neighboring Armenia. The report underlined that
Turkey has to "come to terms with its past" in its accession process
and called on Ankara to open its land border at an early date, and
to establish diplomatic and good neighborly relations with Armenia.
On the Cyprus problem, the MEPs urged Turkey to open its ports and
harbors to Greek Cypriots before end of this year and warned that
otherwise Ankara will face problems in overall progress in its EU
accession talks. The report underlined that recognition of all EU
members, including the Greek Cypriot administration, is "a necessary
component of the accession process" and it also called upon Turkey
to take concrete steps for the normalization of relations with the
Greek Cypriot administration.
The report did not express support for Turkey’s proposal to
simultaneously lift all restrictions on Cyprus by all parties,
but asked the European Council to make renewed efforts to reach an
agreement on direct trade with the Northern Cyprus.
The report strongly criticized the slowdown of the reform process. It
noted "persistent shortcomings" in areas such as freedom of expression,
religious and minority rights, the role of the military, policing,
women’s rights, trade union rights and cultural rights, and urged
Turkey to "reinvigorate" the reform process.
The report recognized the improvements in legislation resulting from
the Turkish government’s efforts since 2002 for a zero tolerance
policy towards torture, but stressed that more effective implementing
measures were needed.
"It is important that the reforms be given impetus from within the
country by the authorities themselves and are not merely the result
of pressure from outside Turkey," the report underlined.
The MEPs urged Turkey to bring its penal code in line with European
standards for freedom of expression. They said that Ankara must
abolish clauses such as Article 301 under which insulting the state
and its institutions is considered an offence which could lead to a
sentence of three years in prison.
With regard to freedom of religion in particular, MEPs deplored the
absence of progress and reiterated Parliament’s previous calls to the
Turkish authorities to fulfill their commitments and to take concrete
steps to eradicate obstacles facing religious minorities. While
respecting the sensitivities of a country with a large majority of
Sunni Muslims, the report nevertheless reminded Turkey of the important
cultural and historic heritage "handed down to it for safekeeping by
the multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious Ottoman Empire."
Looking at the situation in the southeast, the committee strongly
condemned the resurgence of terrorist violence on the part of
the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and expressed concern about the
tensions in this region, which constituted a serious threat to peace
and stability. The Turkish government was urged to pursue a democratic
solution to the Kurdish issue inter alia by promoting political
dialogue and the economic and social development of the southeast,
possibly using the EU pre-accession assistance.
Dutch MEP Camiel Eurlings, who prepared the report, welcomed the
result and said with Wednesday’s amendments the report had become
close to its earlier form, with striking out last-minute changes that
caused fears that the report would undermine those who are driving
reforms in Turkey. Eurlings described his report as "fair but tough"
and expresses hope that it would further motivate Turkish officials
to move forward with reforms.
Asked to comment on the discussions on Armenian genocide claims which
overshadowed the other significant contents of the report, he said,
"Officially, formally, recognition is not a criterion [for accession],
which is the truth, but it is indispensable for a country on the road
to membership to come to terms with its past. So, let the message
not be misunderstood. We really urge Turkey, together with Armenia,
to get over the past."
Eurlings said that formally, recognition of the mass killings as
genocide cannot be held to be a criterion for EU entry as no other
candidate country has had to recognize it.