Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-01-Speech-3-123"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.19991201.10.3-123"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, it is a pleasure to welcome the two outstanding reports put forward by Mr Morillon, and I turn first to the report which he has prepared on Customs Union to say how much we welcome that report in which we must remind Turkey that she too has to play her part. The European Union has made major efforts over a number of years to ensure this Customs Union is successful, and Turkey herself must now ensure that she fulfils the role that she is called upon to play.
I also support what is perhaps the more contentious report. It is a welcome report on economic and social development in Turkey and was supported in the Committee for Foreign Affairs this week. Here the joint forum has to be of major importance, and again both sides must fulfil their role. We are, of course, confident that we will do so. We remain confident that Turkey will also.
In this period of time before Helsinki, it is vital that we look too at the rule of law, human rights, respect for minorities, protection and recognition of their cultural identity and support for measures seeking to abolish capital punishment, one of the amendments that came before our committee to the Morillon report this week.
We have, of course, the unhappy fact of one death penalty upheld in Turkey at this very moment. But I believe there is good news that we can focus on even in that tragic situation where the possibility of a citizen losing his life at the hands of the State is upheld by the Court of Appeal. May I remind my colleagues here today that Turkey has not used the death penalty in practice since 1984. There has been an effective moratorium in place since then with the result that 53 people who were defined as subject to what we would call cruel and inhuman punishment, have had their cases put on one side.
At the moment the Minister for the European Council and Human Rights, is reported in today's issue of
the daily paper, as being firmly against capital punishment. There is a new law coming to the Turkish Parliament in the year 2000, put forward by academics, in which for the first time ever the proposed criminal justice bill does not contain the death penalty. Let us hope and believe that in this year 2000, Turkey's commitment to our millennium year globally will be the abolition of the death penalty once and for all through the democratic parliamentary process."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples