Rabble, Canada
Oct 9 2005
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Bridging the Christian-Muslim divide
While no one in Europe is crazy about the Turks joining what happens
to be a largely white association (Hungary is 52 per cent in favour
and Britain is 45 per cent), only 10 per cent of Austrians favour
Turkish membership.

>by Heather Mallick
October 9, 2005
It may have taken 40 years, but it finally happened this week: The
European Union opened membership talks with Turkey.
I have watched the especially intense year-long run-up to this moment
with fascination and disgust. It was like being a spectator at a
cockfight, with ugly squawks, blood-soaked feathers and the stabbing
of beaks into the meat beneath the skin, the two cocks all the while
denying that this was, in fact, a cockfight, oh no, and the EU
spectators secretly hoping Turkey would expire in the straw of a
heart attack. It wouldn’t look good if an Islamic nation were pecked
to death.
Supposedly, the fight was over Turkey being too big, or too poor, or
too full of possible migrants. It wasn’t about Muslims joining what
former EC head Jacques Delors once called a `Christian club.’
Neither was it about whether Turkey was a European-type nation or
more of an Asian-ish, wrong-side-of-the-Mediterranean kind of
country. Not that they’re not lovely people, of course. Fine
peasants, we’re sure, but we won’t have them in our home. You do
understand.
That’s how racism works. One German-American writer in The Guardian,
disregarding the fact that the European nations fight their best wars
with each other, said white people should be allowed to mourn the
eventual loss of their culture to immigrant hordes. What is white
culture? Egg-salad sandwiches? Fridge magnets? She did not say.
The key is that while no one in Europe is crazy about the Turks
joining what happens to be a largely white association (Hungary is 52
per cent in favour and Britain is 45 per cent), only 10 per cent of
Austrians favour Turkish membership. The pollsters were surprised.
Austrians were the only respondents who saw `almost no positive side’
to letting the Turks in, the BBC reported, not even envisioning
`improved understanding between Europe and the Muslim world.’
Every EU nation agreed to negotiate with Turkey except Austria, which
said talks should take place only about a `privileged partnership,’
not actual membership.
Austria got dirty looks. The conference hall fell silent, I assume. A
polite cough was heard from Germany. It’s unlikely there were Jews in
the room, Europe having a distinct shortage of Jews on its mainland,
but they were on European minds. Far-right Austrian politician Joerg
Haider, whose election had once brought EU sanctions against his
nation, had campaigned hard against the Turkish membership effort.
So Austria caved, doubtless reassuring itself that the negotiations
will take a decade, Turkey has to swallow 80,000 pages of EU law and
even then, it will take only one vote to blackball the country.
The EU wants Turkey badly for economic reasons. With a population of
72 million, it has plenty of young, educated people. Europe is
getting panicky about its low birth rate, caused by the refusal of
working women to have large families and resultant miserable lives.
At some point, Europe will need that younger work force.
In addition, Turkey, while mostly Sunni Muslim, is a secular
republic. Kurds, who make up 20 per cent of the population, see the
EU as a guard for their human rights, which it would be. Turkey,
notorious for arrests without trial and severe torture of prisoners,
claims to be trying to improve its human-rights record and treatment
of women. The charges recently filed against Turkish novelist Orhan
Pamuk for deploring Turkey’s killing of 30,000 Kurds since 1984 and
the 1915 Armenian genocide were inspired by reactionaries aiming to
stop the talks. They failed.
After watching the cockfight for a year without taking sides, I am
convinced that Turkey’s entrance into the EU, whose human-rights laws
are a model for the world, is our last best hope for a peaceful
understanding between the so-called Christian and Muslim solitudes.
Those in doubt might wish to read Indian novelist Vikram Seth’s new
book, Two Lives, a stunning biography of his great-uncle Shanti (from
India) and great-aunt Henny (a Jew who escaped Second World War
Germany at the last minute). It brings home the horror of the slow
humiliation and demonization of the German Jews, who considered
themselves utterly German. It shows how insiders are made into
outsiders, how Henny’s sister, Miss Lola Caro, an elegant German
(Jewish) girl, went from eating Stollen with her German (Christian)
friends in 1931 to Birkenau in 1943, stripped, thrown into a room
with perforated pillars filled with Zyklon-B, gassed, grapple-hooked
and burned to ash. That’s 12 years of humiliation.
Imagine what the Palestinians feel. Imagine how a Turk, wanting to
modernize Turkey, feels at being rejected for his race and religion
for 40 years. Hitler would be giggling now. Think how much time
Muslims have had to be humiliated by the Western world. Perhaps
globalization speeded up the process.
When we seek an explanation for the existence of young, educated,
middle-class suicide bombers, humiliation fits the bill. An
Associated Press interview with a suicide bomber – he changed his
mind when he saw a mother and two children in a café – suggests that
bombers are driven `not by poverty or ignorance, but by a lethal mix
of nationalism, zealotry and humiliation.’
Turkey had already declared that it would give up on Europe if it
were rebuffed this time. The fact is, it would have been utterly
humiliated. In Western eyes at least, the squalid objections of
Austria, a country that unlike Germany has never truly faced its Nazi
past, would have been plain evidence of racism. Austria wanted a wall
around Europe, but the world doesn’t work that way, we hope.
Former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing was angry at the
welcome extended to Turkey. The EU was risking replacing a `grand
French project of political union’ with `a large free-trade zone,’ he
said.
In fact, it is the opposite. It is a hand extended in hope.
Heather Mallick’s column is in The Globe and Mail each
Saturday. It appears on Sunday in rabble.ca.

The Hellenic Radio, Greece
Oct 8 2005
Olli Rehn’s Visit to Turkey “Proceed Quickly with Reforms”
08 Oct 2005 15:41:00
By Annita Paschalinou
The EU Enlargement Commissioner urged the Turkish National Assembly
to immediately proceed with signing the EU-Turkey protocol, while he
called on Ankara to implement the reforms at a faster pace, so that
the accession talks can commence on time. After meeting with the
Turkish PM, Olli Rehn noted that the speed of negotiations would
depend on the rate of reforms implemented by Turkey. He also
predicted that Turkeys accession to the EU would be tough and the
negotiations could last 10 years. Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke of a
tough process, while he voiced his optimism that the negotiations
will prove successful in the end.
Meeting with Novelist Orhan Pamuk
In the context of his contacts in Turkey, Olli Rehn met with Turkish
novelist Orhan Pamuk, a great defender of the rights of Kurds and
Armenians.
Turkeys most famous author faces up to three years in jail on the
charge of “insulting Turkish identity” for allegedly backing charges
that Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Empire
forces 90 years ago.
The incident has prompted intense reactions from the EU.
Pamuk will be called to appear before an Istanbul court in December.
Translated by Vicky Ghionis

Anatolian Times, Turkey
Oct 9 2005
Turkey’s Priority To Be Democracy & Human Rights, Flautre
ANKARA – Turkey’s priority will be democracy and human rights after
its full membership negotiations with the EU are launched, Helene
Flautre, the Chairperson of the European Parliament’s Human Rights
Sub-Commission, said on Friday.
Holding a press conference before flying to eastern city of Van,
Flautre said that efforts should be exerted to implement recent legal
reforms in Turkey.
-TORTURE, KURDS AND HUMAN RIGHTS-
Flautre stated that Turkey’s ”zero tolerance to torture” policy was
a ”perfect decision”, and said that paving the way for inspection
of independent boards could help full implementation of this policy
in prisons and police stations.
Underlining importance of legal changes regarding the safeguard of
social and cultural rights of the Kurds, Flautre said, ”but, it may
be considered a little weird to urge people to attend special and
paid courses to learn their own mother tongues. In fact, Kurdish
should be taught at public schools.”
Flautre said that gender equality was also an important part of the
EU acquis, while listed associations law, foundations law, and union
rights as areas in which Turkey should make more progress.
-SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ALLEGATIONS-
French parliamentarian Flautre said that the EU had recently
discussed ”whether Turkey’s recognition of the Armenian genocide
(allegations) was an obligatory precondition for its EU membership”,
not ”whether Armenian genocide was carried out”.
”The European Parliament said ‘yes’ to it (to consider recognition
of the Armenian genocide as a precondition for Turkey’s EU
membership) in the vote held last week. However, political groups and
individuals think differently about this matter. And, I personally
think that it should not be a precondition,” indicated Flautre.
”Everything that happens in Turkey becomes is an internal policy
matter in the EU. We should discuss in Europe what kind of a society
Turkey is and its possible contributions to the EU. Because, my
country, France has made an unbelievable decision that can let it
obstruct Turkey’s EU accession by a referendum. And, as a person who
knows this, I want Turkey to be discussed in Europe, with all its
dimensions,” said Flautre.
On the other hand, another member of the sub-committee Richard Howitt
said that they wanted to see Turkey in the EU, and added, ”this
(Turkey’s negotiations with the EU) will be a long run.”
-EP HUMAN RIGHTS SUB-COMMITTEE’S MEETING WITH IHD-
Earlier meeting Human Rights Association (IHD) officials, Flautre
told that Turkey would be monitored more in fields of human rights
and democracy after the start of the negotiation process with the EU.
”Before the start of the accession talks between Turkey and EU, the
EU was looking for fulfillment of the requirements by Turkey at a
sufficient level, but now Turkey should fulfill everything fully,
there is a more strict and serious agenda now,” Flautre said. She
noted that everybody whom she met was in consensus about the progress
recorded by Turkey in human rights.

Anatolian Times, Turkey
Oct 9 2005
General Ozkok In Baku
BAKU – Turkish Chief of General Staff General Hilmi Ozkok has
remarked on Thursday that close ties exist between Turkey and
Azerbaijan. ”You (Azerbaijan) have helped us in our time of
difficulty and we (Turkey) have helped you when you needed that
help.”
General Ozkok met the Azerbaijani Speaker of Parliament today.
General Ozkok indicated that 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory is
under Armenian occupation. Turkey’s problem in Cyprus, the Kashmir
issue between Pakistan and India as well as the Azerbaijani territory
under Armenian occupation are all problems whose roots come from the
past and solution is difficult, said Ozkok.
General Ozkok thanked Azerbaijan for its support to the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus. ”The direct flights to the TRNC and
visits of Azerbaijani businessmen to TRNC have received a place in
the hearts of Turks,” told General Ozkok.
According to General Ozkok, military ties between Turkey and
Azerbaijan are in excellent shape. ”Our military cooperation is
purely defensive. We are for the peaceful resolution of disputes,”
noted General Ozkok.
Meanwhile, Aleskerov pointed out that, if the Azerbaijani territory
under Armenian occupation is not timely returned, Azerbaijan will use
its military might and re-capture the invaded Azerbaijani territory.
”Turkey, its parliament and government have always been on our side.
We are confident that Turkey will continue to support us and be on
our side,” commented Aleskerov.
In a separate meeting with the Azerbaijani Minister of Defense Safar
Abiyev in Baku, General Ozkok referred to a statement made by the
late Azerbaijani President Haydar Aliyev that Turkey and Azerbaijan
are one nation with two governments. ”We are determined to keep and
make our relations better in all fields,” said Ozkok.
General Ozkok and Abiyev discussed current issues pertaining to the
region, including the enhancement of military ties and political
developments.
Abiyev congratulated Ozkok for the beginning of Turkey’s accession
talks with the EU. ”The Turks have resisted all pressures
historically and always achieved their goals,” stressed Abiyev.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Macomb Daily, MI
Oct 9 2005
Ford dealer Michael Dorian Sr. dies from injuries sustained in crash
PUBLISHED: October 8, 2005
By Chad Halcom
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
Auto dealer Michael Dorian Sr. died Friday of injuries suffered
Thursday in an auto accident.

Dorian Sr. of Bloomfield Hills, who worked his way up from
used-car-lot worker to the owner of a Ford dealership, died at 2:25
a.m. after his car on Thursday drifted over into opposing traffic on
busy Cass Avenue in downtown Mount Clemens. He was 80.
“He never really fully retired, or even semi-retired as some people
call it,” said daughter Carolyn Dorian, who serves as parts and
service manager of her father’s auto dealership. “He’d still come
into work every day, at least until 1 p.m. or so. And he’d call five
times a day. That’s the part we’re going to miss.”
Macomb County sheriff’s investigators believe Dorian, founder of Mike
Dorian Ford in Clinton Township, may have had the onset of a medical
“condition” that caused him to lose control of his 2005 Ford 500 some
time before colliding with two other vehicles Thursday.
Officials said it was his injuries from the crash, not any event
preceding it, that ultimately took his life. But it remains unclear
whether Dorian was conscious or lucid in the moments before the
accident.
“Nothing in our investigation can tell us” whether Dorian could have
survived whatever caused him to lose control of the vehicle under
different circumstances, said Macomb County Sheriff’s Capt. Anthony
Wickersham. “But we do know the cause of death is the extent of his
injuries from the accident.”
Dorian, a veteran of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II,
started the business decades ago in Detroit before moving the company
to its longstanding location in Clinton Township. He had retired from
the day-to-day operations of the business some years ago, entrusting
it to son, Michael Jr.
Born in March 1925 to immigrant parents who had found work in
Detroit, he remained sympathetic and supportive to organizations such
as the ARS Armenian Orphanage Sponsorships Program, which aids
orphaned children with foster care and other costs.
Macomb County medical examiner Daniel Spitz, who conducted an autopsy
on Dorian Friday, said the man had a history of several medical
conditions but he could not conclude that any were the cause of his
accident. Although heart disease and diabetes were among his past
ailments, Spitz said he found no signs Dorian was having a heart
attack.
“It doesn’t appear that way,” Spitz said. “From his history there’s a
good chance of a medical event, but can I tell you he wasn’t just
distracted or trying to change the station on his radio?”
An accident investigation and witness accounts indicate Dorian’s
vehicle was heading eastbound on Cass Avenue in Mount Clemens when it
crossed into opposing traffic and clipped or ricocheted against a
westbound Chevy Suburban, then collided head-on with a
tractor-trailer truck carrying hot tar.
After the military, Dorian attended Michigan State University and
later Lawrence Technological University, where he studied finance.
After some time selling used cars, he eventually became a Ford dealer
and opened for business in 1964.
Dorian moved the business to Clinton Township in 1973, where it has
remained ever since at its location near 15 Mile Road on Gratiot,
Carolyn said. In honor of her father, she said, several dealerships
along Gratiot had lowered their flags to half-staff.
In additional to Carolyn Dorian and General Manager Michael Jr.,
Dorian is survived by another child, daughter, Michele who works as a
civil engineer. He also leaves behind three grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Hamilton Funeral
Home, 820 E. Maple Road, Birmingham. Burial arrangements afterward
will be private. Visitation is from 4-9 p.m. Sunday and from 4 p.m.
until the time of service Monday at the funeral home. Memorial
contributions may be made to the ARS Armenian Orphanage Sponsorships
Program.

Mehr News Agency, Iran
Oct 9 2005
Shahin Farhat composes “Iran Symphony”
TEHRAN, Oct. 9 (Mehr News Agency) — Iranian composer Shahin Farhat
recently finished composing a work entitled “Iran Symphony” to prove
his patriotism once again. He had previously created “Iranian Lady
Symphony”, “Damavand Symphony”, and “Persian Gulf Symphony” in this
genre.
Shahin Farhat (photo: Mandegar
“I began writing the symphony last Noruz (Iranian New Year, which
begins on March 21). It abstractly demonstrates bittersweet events
our country has experienced over history,” Farhat told the Iranian
Students News Agency (ISNA) on Saturday.
“With a genuine Iranian theme, the symphony has been written in four
movements taking 40 minutes. The first and second movements have an
exciting and fast rhythm, the third movement is mellow, and the
ending reminds one of triumph and victory,” he explained.
“I have asked Ali Rahbari (Tehran Symphony Orchestra conductor) to
perform the symphony, and he has welcomed the idea,” Farhat said.
According to Farhat, the Iranian Academy of Arts will sponsor the
performance. He had previously said that he might be persuaded to
give it to the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra because of technical
limitations in Iran for the performance and recording of orchestral
and symphonic works.
Farhat’s Persian Gulf and Damavand symphonies were also to be
performed by Iranian conductor Loris Tjeknavorian and recorded in
Iran, but in the end they were performed and recorded by the Armenian
Philharmonic Orchestra.
Farhat expressed satisfaction with the Armenian orchestra’s
performance of the symphony.

Civil Georgia, Georgia
Oct 9 2005
Armenian Official Calls on Tbilisi for Cautious in Javakheti

Armenian President’s national security aide Garnik Isagulyan said
on October 8 that the Georgian authorities should show restraint
while dealing with the Samtskhe-Javakheti region in southern Georgia,
which is predominately populated by ethnic Armenians, Regnum news
agency reported.
`Georgian authorities should be extremely cautious and attentive in
their actions, because any minor provocation can turn into a large
scale clash,’ Garnik Isagulyan said at a news conference.
The aide to the Armenian President commented on the recent clash,
which occurred on October 5, when hundreds of local residents in
Akhalkalaki, a town in Samtskhe-Javakheti, rallied to protest against
the closure of trade facilities by in the town by the Financial
Police. Tensions flared up after police fired several shots into the
air to disperse the rally.
President Saakashvili said while commenting on the Akhalkalaki
incident, that `there is no serious problem and law-enforcers are
maintaining order in the region.’
`We are establishing control in this region [Samtskhe-Javakheti],
which was out of full control over previous years. Any attempts to
trigger disorders will be unsuccessful,’ Saakashvili told reporters
on October 6.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Guardian/Observer, UK
Oct 9 2005
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Nobel split delays book prize
Alex Duval Smith in Stockholm
Sunday October 9, 2005
The Observer
The secretive group of intellectuals who award the Nobel Prize for
literature have delayed their decision for at least a week amid
reports of a split over honouring the controversial Turkish author,
Orhan Pamuk.
For the first time in at least 10 years, the literature prize was
announced neither in the run-up to, nor in the same week as the four
other main Nobel awards – medicine, physics, chemistry and peace.
Each marks the pinnacle of achievement in its field and is worth 10
million Swedish kronor (£730,000).
The suspected row over Pamuk – which is officially denied – comes
amid revelations about the secretive workings of the committee that,
since 1901, has chosen Nobel winners. The literature award is now due
to be announced on Thursday.
Pamuk’s latest novel, Snow, has been widely acclaimed for addressing
Turkey’s internal clash of cultures. His earlier work, My Name is
Red, established his literary prowess. But the author is
controversial for an assertion he made in a newspaper interview
earlier this year that the Turkish state was guilty of a 20th century
genocide against Armenians and Kurds. He faces trial for the comments
in his country on 16 December.
Observers of the Nobel process say that, given that the European
Union has decided to engage talks on Turkey’s entry without
condemning the Pamuk trial, some members of the Swedish Academy,
which chooses the literature laureate, feel politically exposed.
‘If the Pamuk row is real, the academy’s reluctance is not based on a
fear of being political, or controversial,’ said Svante Weyler of
Nordstedts publishers, ‘but on concern that literature must not be
overshadowed by politics.’
Others believe a split in the academy over Pamuk could be based on a
long-entrenched principle of avoiding fashions and fads. Pamuk is
widely acclaimed but, at the age of 53, is considered on the young
side. ‘The Nobel Prize must never go to the book of the season. It
exists to reward a life’s work,’ said poet and literary critic Eva
Ström.
The suspected row over Pamuk bears the hallmarks of the ‘Rushdie
affair’ – a conflict whose impact can still be felt in the Swedish
Academy today.
In February 1989, author and academy member Kerstin Ekman called on
her fellow elders to issue a statement condemning the fatwa against
Salman Rushdie. They refused, prompting Ekman and author Lars
Gyllensten to resign from the Nobel selection process.
The remaining 16 academy members are understood at this stage to have
reduced their choice to two candidates. The winner will be chosen by
majority vote.
Some observers have suggested the delay in announcing the 2005 prize
might not be related to Pamuk, and that academy members may be
grappling with a non-fiction candidate or an essayist.
Earlier this year, academy head and committee member Horace Engdahl
suggested it was time to ‘broaden’ the literature prize stating that
‘It is important that the prize develops as literature develops.’
His comments have been taken to mean that a journalist such as
Poland’s Ryszard Kapuscinski could be considered. In the same vein,
philosopher Bertrand Russell won it in 1950 and Winston Churchill was
given the literature prize three years later for his historical
writings. The favourite to win in Stockholm literary circles is
Syrian poet Ali Ahmad Said, also known as Adonis.

The Guardian/Observer, UK
Oct 9 2005
Turkey gags journalist over ‘insult’
Just as the EU opens talks with Turkey over its application to join
the European Union comes a reminder that the freedoms the British
press takes for granted are not always extended to its Turkish
equivalent.
Last Friday, a Turkish court gave an Armenian-Turkish journalist a
six-month suspended prison sentence for ‘insulting Turkish identity’
in an article he wrote.
The issue of freedom of speech has dogged every stage of Turkey’s
efforts to join the European Union. While the EU agreed this week to
start entry talks with Turkey, such court cases are likely to hinder
Ankara’s progress toward full membership.
The Istanbul court found Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of the
bilingual Turkish and Armenian weekly Agos newspaper, guilty of
‘insulting and weakening Turkish identity through the media’ in an
article he wrote last year.
‘Whether the sentence was for one day or six years, it doesn’t
matter. The important thing, and what saddens me, is that I was
sentenced. I did not commit this crime,’ Dink told Reuters.
The article he wrote called on the Armenian diaspora to reject the
anger they felt against Turkey. ‘Forget insulting the Turkish
identity, I said to Armenians “let go of your enmity toward Turks”,’
Dink said.
The journalist, who founded the Agos newspaper in 1996, said that he
would appeal against the court’s verdict and take the case to the
European Court of Human Rights if necessary.
‘If I don’t get a result, I will not stay with the people I have
supposedly insulted,’ he said. ‘I will leave the country.’

Business Online, UK
Oct 9 2005
France is the big obstacle to Turkey’s EU ambitions

By : Jonathan Gorvett in Istanbul October 09, 2005

WITH Turkey finally starting European Union (EU) accession talks 46
years after first applying, a 10-year road of tough negotiations and
difficult decisions lies ahead. And after all that, enlargement could
still be vetoed, especially by France, which changed its constitution
earlier this year to stipulate that a referendum must be held before
Turkey is allowed to join – a prospect facing opposition from
ordinary French voters.
The first new step is on 20 October, when EU chiefs will assess what
needs to be done before the real talks on membership can begin. Then
in November, the European Commission publishes its scorecard report
on Turkey’s progress in economic and political reforms – a document
likely to be critical of the country’s human and minority rights
record.
And after this, talks may begin, focusing on 35 subjects – known as
chapters – in which Turkey will have to show conformity with EU
standards. On each occasion, the approval of existing member states
will be needed before one can be closed and the next opened.
These chapters cover everything from foreign policy to intellectual
property rights, from environmental standards to trans-European
highways.
Many feel that Britain, which currently holds the EU presidency, will
also want to close at least one chapter before the end of this year,
establishing the accession process. Most likely then, the first
chapter chosen will be an easy one – such as science and research
rules.
A series of more irksome issues is likely to follow. Raymond James
Securities chief macroeconomist Ozgur Altug says: `Number one of
these will be Cyprus. When it comes to the chapter on the free
movement of goods and services, there could be serious problems here
for Turkey.’
The difficulty is that at this point Turkey will likely come up
against demands from Nicosia that it open its ports and airports to
Cypriot traffic.
Turkey is technically obliged to do so under the terms of the customs
union agreement it has with the EU. Yet Ankara has not recognised the
Greek Cypriot dominated government on the island since it invaded
back in 1974 and has so far refused to open its doors.
The second difficulty is likely to be farming. About 40% of Turkey’s
70m population works on the land, mainly in co-operatives and
individual holdings. Farmers have been used to receiving subsidies in
price supports from the state for decades, while many staple products
– such as tomatoes, sunflower and olive oil and oriental leaf tobacco
– are oversupplied by other EU countries. Other sectors remain
protected against imports, breaking EU trade policies.
Agricultural Minister Mahdi Eker said last week that he recognised
that `a difficult time lies ahead’ for farming, while placing his
faith in a new Agriculture Strategic Action plan, due to begin
implementation in January 2006. This will roll back price supports
and, advocates hope, boost competitiveness – yet it is also likely to
cause political and social discontent.
Then there is the environment. The chapter on this requires the
Turkish private sector to spend E35bn to meet EU environmental
standards, from health and safety at work to food hygiene standards.
Yet for the years 2005-07, the total financial assistance Turkey can
expect from the EU will be E350m a year.
Another area of concern though is minority rights. Turkey’s now-small
but once large ethnic Greek and Armenian populations have long
complained that much of their property has been taken from them over
the years by government. Sorting out restoration rights will be a
complex legal process; minority groups have already stated that they
do not see the latest government draft law on this issue in a
favourable light.
With support for EU accession in Turkey dwindling in recent months –
according to a recent newspaper poll to 57% – the government will
also have to watch its back, while its presents its front to
Brussels.

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