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ANKARA: Criticism Mounts On Merkel Over 'Privileged' Offer

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  • ANKARA: Criticism Mounts On Merkel Over 'Privileged' Offer

    CRITICISM MOUNTS ON MERKEL OVER 'PRIVILEGED' OFFER

    Hurriyet
    March 31 2010
    Turkey

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and Turkish Prime Minister
    Recep Tayyip Erdogan. DHA photo

    Criticism mounted on the German chancellor Wednesday after returning
    home from Turkey where she offered no solid step on delicate issues,
    including debates over Turkey's European Union membership bid and
    Turkish-language education in Germany.

    The junior partner in German coalition government, the Free Democratic
    Party, or FDP, has criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel for her
    incapacity to push "open-ended" EU negotiations for Turkey within
    her own party.

    The fundamental rejection of Turkey's full membership bid by the
    majority of the Christian Democratic Party, or CDU, and the Christian
    Social Union, or CSU, stood in stark contrast to the coalition treaty,
    which states "open-ended" negotiations with Turkey, Michael Link,
    parliamentary speaker for European affairs and FDP lawmaker, told
    the German Suddeutsche Zeitung.

    His remarks came as a German parliamentarian from Merkel's CDU
    countered the chancellor by supporting Turkey's full European Union
    membership. Expressing the belief that it would be better to have
    Turkey in the bloc, Ruprecht Polenz, the foreign affairs committee
    chair of the CDU, added that Turkey should first fully comply with
    EU criteria.

    Link, from the pro-business FDP, said they would hope that the
    chancellor would be able to carry through the coalition treaty in
    her own party.

    "Those who criticize accession negotiations with Turkey are overlooking
    that Turkey has gained enormous strategic importance. And they are
    missing out on the fact that we already have a privileged partnership
    with Turkey," he said.

    During her visit to Turkey, Merkel said she now understood that
    "privileged partnership" had a bad connotation in Turkey and confirmed
    Germany would be a partner, but the adjective would still have to
    be defined.

    Schroeder hails Turkey

    Meanwhile, former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Tuesday
    praised Turkey for courageous reforms and called for Germany to
    get rid of the privileged partnership debate in an interview with a
    German daily.

    "The steps that are being taken have historical character as
    they pertain to basic democratization, Kurdish politics and the
    normalization process with Armenia. Germany and the EU are better off
    supporting Turkey, because it is obvious that pro-European factions
    in Turkey face big obstacles," Schroeder told the daily Bild.

    He warned of nationalistic politics in Turkey, which would isolate
    the country and endanger European security. "Turkey ranks among the
    top 20 economies of the world, and is by far stronger in that aspect
    than EU-members such as Sweden, Poland or Belgium," he said.

    In regard to the education debate sparked by Prime Minister Recep
    Tayyip Erdogan's demand for Turkish language schools in Germany,
    Schroeder said, "Children who speak perfect German as well as perfect
    Turkish are an asset for Germany because Turkey is an important
    political, cultural and economic partner."

    Schroeder also supported Erdogan's suggestion of encouraging the
    integration of Turkish migrants in Germany by fostering bilingual
    schools and increasing the number of teachers of Turkish background
    who have graduated form German universities.

    German-Turkish schools could help overcome deficits in integration
    and make Germany more international, Schroeder said.

    "But of course all children, including those with a migration
    background, should be fully proficient in German," he said.
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