Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Turkey does not meet Copenhagen criteria, Europarliament report says
by O. Tsipira - ANA - 15/11/2000
Posted: Thursday, November 16, 2000 06:46 pm CST

STRASBOURG, 15/11/2000

Turkey's efforts to enter the European Union remain "inadequate", French eurodeputy Philippe Morillon said on Tuesday, while presenting a relevant report to the Europarliaments Foreign Affairs Committee.

He said that Cyprus' division was an "unacceptable" fact and stressed that there was an urgent need to limit the Turkish military's role in that countries politics.

Morillon begun his presentation by welcoming Turkey's efforts to establish a new legal framework for human rights, as well as former President Suleyman Demirel's efforts for the creation of a better framework for the amendment of the Turkish Constitution.

He underlined, however, that "the conclusion of the report is that Turkey does not meet the Copenhagen criteria".

The French eurodeputy also noted that the Turkish citizens now recognize that the institutional reform is not enough but that there is also a need for a change in attitudes.

For this reason, he said, the Europarliament requested the creation of a Euro-Turkish forum to establish a substantive cooperation within the joint committee of Eurodeputies and Turkish parliament deputies.

"Turkey plays an important role in the future of the European Union. Everyone recognizes that the course will be long and difficult, and Turkey knows that the accession is very important, that is why all this should not remain in the depths of a private office, they should be made public," Morillon said.

Speaking on the outstanding issues regarding Turkey's course to the Union, Morillon said that "it is unthinkable at this day and age for Cyprus to remain divided. Look what happened in Berlin, in Sarajevo or even in the rapprochement between the two Koreas...The Cyprus problem is an issue that must be resolved".

The report presented by Morillon requests of the Turkish government to withdraw its occupation forces from the northern part of the island republic.

Morillon also spoke of the Kurdish problem, noting that it is a problem "that must be resolved", while for the Armenian issue he said "our (French national assembly) recognized in 1987 the Armenian genocide, it should be recognized by the Turkish government as well."

On his part, European Commissioner responsible for enlargement of the Union Guenter Verheugen said "if the final conclusions of Helsinki, in relation to the resolution of the Cyprus problem, should change in ways several of the speakers requested - that is if the resolution of the Cyprus problem becomes a precondition for the accession (of Turkey) then the effort shall fail".

"This is exactly the point we had changed last year with the positive decision of the Europarliament. We had said in the past that it was not a precondition, but that it could be requested of Turkey to exert, with sincerity, all possible effort toward a solution," Verheugen said.

"We should never forget, however, that for the resolution two are needed and not only one. You cannot expect from Turkey anything more than sincere and convincing efforts. You should demand the resolution (of the Cyprus problem) only by those who have set as their aim to resolve the problem," Verheugen added.

Related Information...

Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News Archives