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More needed from Turkey before EU membership

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  • More needed from Turkey before EU membership

    EuroNews
    Oct 3 2005

    More needed from Turkey before EU membership

    Distant cousin or near neighbour? Perceptions may differ in Europe
    but both sides of the internal EU debate have long agreed on the need
    for reform in Turkey before it can join the bloc. Ankara can claim to
    have ticked many items off the list of changes demanded by Brussels.
    These include scrapping the death penalty, enhancing minority rights,
    banning sexual discrimination and curtailing the role of the
    military.

    But even after the start of entry talks more will need to be done
    before eventual membership not earlier than 2014. It was only last
    year, after decades of developing relations, that the EU agreed a
    deal by which this week's entry talks could begin. Among the issues
    still to be dealt with is a European Parliament demand that Turks
    acknowledge as genocide the mass killing of Armenians 90 years ago.
    Ankara is also under pressure to recognise Cyprus, one of the new EU
    members.

    It has extended its customs agreement with the Union to include
    Cyprus but says this does not amount to recognition of the Greek
    Cypriot government as the sole legitimate authority on the island.
    Among those wanting their voice heard is Turkey's Kurdish minority. A
    demonstration in Brussels on Friday was to intended to send a message
    to EU negotiators that Kurds have grievances which still need to be
    addressed. These are just some of the obstacles Ankara will have to
    overcome on the long and difficult road to Brussels.
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