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EU slams Turkey in draft progress report

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  • EU slams Turkey in draft progress report

    EU slams Turkey in draft progress report

    Sun Jun 18, 2006 10:48 AM BST

    ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The EU criticises the Turkish military's role
    in politics, a lack of reform and minority rights and relations
    with Cyprus in the draft of a progress report due later this year,
    a newspaper reported on Sunday.

    The European Union is due to publish a progress report on Ankara's
    entry bid in October or November, a year on from the start of
    negotiations, which on Friday turned frosty as Prime Minister Tayyip
    Erdogan said he would sooner see talks suspended than make concessions
    over new member Cyprus.

    Turkey's Cumhuriyet newspaper cited European Union sources on Sunday
    as saying the first draft criticised Turkey's refusal to open its
    ports to Cyprus, as the EU demands, before the bloc lifts trade
    restrictions on Turkish Cypriots
    in breakaway Northern Cyprus.

    The paper said the draft also notes a slowdown in political reform,
    the military's ongoing influence over political institutions and
    calls for more work for judicial independence and rights for women
    and minorities.



    It also says conditions in the poor mainly Kurdish southeast, where
    security forces are fighting separatist guerrillas, have deteriorated
    and criticises relations with traditional enemies and neighbours
    Greece and Armenia.

    The paper said the draft would be amended but the sources did not
    expect many changes to the essence of it.

    EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on Friday shot back at Erdogan's
    comments about Cyprus, with calls for Turkey to allow in traffic from
    the tiny Mediterranean island by the end of the year.

    Last week Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker was quoted
    as saying membership talks should be frozen if Turkey does not open
    its ports this year.

    EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has said Turkey, which is not
    expected to join the wealthy bloc until 2015 at the earliest, could
    be heading for a "train crash" in its accession process and has urged
    Ankara to step up reforms.
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