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Peninsula On-line, Qatar
May 5 2005
Schroeder pressures Turkey on EU reform
Web posted at: 5/5/2005 7:2:39
ANKARA: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder yesterday urged Turkey to
fully implement the democracy reforms it adopted to achieve European
Union norms and called for more freedoms for Christian communities
in this Muslim-majority country.
Schroeder, a staunch supporter of Turkey's EU membership bid, assured
Ankara that the bloc was determined to open accession talks with
Turkey on schedule on October 3.
"The dynamics of reform should continue," Schroeder said after talks
with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "The constitutional
and other legal amendments should be put into practice."
Referring to concerns that France will vote down the European
constitution at a May 29 referendum and plunge the EU into crisis,
the German leader said: "No referendum anywhere in Europe will affect
Turkey's EU process."
Schroeder also renewed EU demands from Turkey to expand the freedoms
of its non-Muslim comminuties, mostly Orthodox Christians and Jews.
"Religious freedom is a European principle," Schroder said. "It is
indisputabe and is valid for Turkey as well. People should freely
practice their religions."
Turkey is under pressure to remove legal obstacles for non-Muslim
religious foundations to fully exercise their property rights and to
open a Greek Orthodox seminary in Istanbul closed down more than 30
years ago.
Schroeder also backed a Turkish proposal to Armenia for the creation
of a joint commission of historians to study allegations that the
Ottoman Turks committed genocide against their Armenian subjects
during World War I.
May 5 2005
Schroeder pressures Turkey on EU reform
Web posted at: 5/5/2005 7:2:39
ANKARA: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder yesterday urged Turkey to
fully implement the democracy reforms it adopted to achieve European
Union norms and called for more freedoms for Christian communities
in this Muslim-majority country.
Schroeder, a staunch supporter of Turkey's EU membership bid, assured
Ankara that the bloc was determined to open accession talks with
Turkey on schedule on October 3.
"The dynamics of reform should continue," Schroeder said after talks
with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "The constitutional
and other legal amendments should be put into practice."
Referring to concerns that France will vote down the European
constitution at a May 29 referendum and plunge the EU into crisis,
the German leader said: "No referendum anywhere in Europe will affect
Turkey's EU process."
Schroeder also renewed EU demands from Turkey to expand the freedoms
of its non-Muslim comminuties, mostly Orthodox Christians and Jews.
"Religious freedom is a European principle," Schroder said. "It is
indisputabe and is valid for Turkey as well. People should freely
practice their religions."
Turkey is under pressure to remove legal obstacles for non-Muslim
religious foundations to fully exercise their property rights and to
open a Greek Orthodox seminary in Istanbul closed down more than 30
years ago.
Schroeder also backed a Turkish proposal to Armenia for the creation
of a joint commission of historians to study allegations that the
Ottoman Turks committed genocide against their Armenian subjects
during World War I.