Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-09-16-Speech-4-123"
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"en.19990916.9.4-123"2
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"Mr President, I would like to express here the sympathy and consternation of our group in the face of the earthquakes in Turkey and Greece. It is an irony of history that the earthquake in Turkey and the earthquake in Greece have brought these two countries closer together at last. I will not say reunited as yet, but certainly brought closer.
It is indeed a rare coincidence that legal proceedings, whose fairness and rectitude I am not one hundred percent convinced of, and a conviction, of which, for fundamental reasons, I am even less convinced, specifically the death sentence against Mr Öçalan, have led to the development of an opportunity to bring a dreadful civil war in Turkey to an end. Sometimes this is the case in history; tragic events can set positive developments in motion.
Therefore, instead of going into details, I would like to basically welcome the fact, firstly, that relations between Greece and Turkey have improved even regardless of the dreadful events, because both Foreign Ministers are prepared to speak to each other. I am very pleased to see that many European countries reacted so positively and made aid available immediately when the dreadful events occurred, and the European Union, furthermore, is considering, as a result, how a new beginning in the relationship between the European Union and Turkey can be achieved.
In recent days I have spoken with some Turkish Members of Parliament, who also clearly expressed their desire for this new beginning. There have been a series of changes, new laws in Turkey. So it could be that, because of the awful events and a certain rethinking and reconsideration within Turkey, a new beginning will be possible in the next few months in the relationship between Turkey and the European Union, with the help of Greece. In all these steps together with, and with regard to, Turkey it is important to proceed in partnership with our Member State of Greece. The Foreign Minister, Mr Papandreou, has just established the prerequisites for us to enter into this new partnership with Turkey.
It will be a long and laborious path. But for once it could be written in the history books that these terrible disasters in both these countries were the beginning of a new relationship, even a new political relationship, and possibly even a new economic relationship. Personally I shall also strive, as the former rapporteur on Turkish matters in this House, to achieve these new relationships between Turkey and the European Union.
Turkey is an important strategic partner, but Turkey must also know that it must carry out appropriate changes in its law in order to achieve the prerequisites for clearing the obstacles to its free entry into Europe. Entry into Europe is conditional upon legality and respect for human rights. That is the only possibility. With this in mind, my group will attentively follow the latest endeavours of Commission and Council and will consider them positively, but critically."@en1
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