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  • Turkey under pressure

    Euro-reporters.com, Belgium
    May 31 2005

    Turkey under pressure

    Written by David Ferguson in Brussels

    Tuesday, 31 May 2005

    "Turkey's will to reform is the deciding factor. If Turkey wants
    to make sure that accession negotiations start on 3 October 2005,
    it must not deter from its current course of reforms," said German
    Green MEP Cem Ozdemir, himself of Turkish origin. "The image that
    Turkey is currently projecting must be changed immediately," continued
    Ozdemir, also a member of the European Parliament's Turkey delegation.
    "Violent police action on International Women's Day, the recently
    cancelled Armenia conference in Istanbul and recent calls to burn
    the books of authors like Orhan Pamuk are intolerable relapses into
    a bygone era."

    Ozdemir does not expect the French rejection of European Constitution
    to hold up further enlargement: "Ten member states have already
    approved the constitution. The 'no' in France is a large burden for the
    European Union to bear, but the ratification process will continue,
    as planned, until October 2006." Turkey's latest application to join
    dates back to 1987 and, if all conditions are met, the country should
    begin accession negotiations in October 2005.


    "The outcome of the French referendum does not stand in the way of
    accession negotiations with Turkey. The EU must also be ready to take
    on new members. It is in Europe's own interest to reform itself as
    quickly as possible, in order to remain functional with 25 members
    and soon 27 members. If Turkey joins the EU within the target time
    period of ten to 15 years, it will become part of a stronger union."

    Turkey is under great pressure to maintain and extend press freedoms
    and human rights. But doubts have been increasingly raised over the
    pace of change in Turkey. In April, Ankara announced a two or three
    month delay for reform of the country's 79-year-old penal code to
    meet the EU's political standards. One of the draft articles of the
    revised code still deemed it an offense calling for Turkish withdrawal
    from Cyprus or talk of an Armenian genocide.
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