Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-01-Speech-3-132"
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"en.19991201.10.3-132"2
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"Mr President, because of our feelings of solidarity and fraternity with the people of Turkey, we oppose that country’s accession into the European Union because, as the experience of the Greek people has shown, the Turkish people have nothing positive to gain from it. However, we are being urged to vote in favour of the two regulations and the release of the relevant appropriations to Turkey, both because it has made significant progress towards democratisation and in order to encourage it to go still further in that direction. Contrary to claims by the Council and the Commission to the effect that democracy is progressing in Turkey, claims which demonstrate that the first to benefit from progress are the multinationals, it is blindingly obvious that the situation has, in fact, deteriorated.
So what is happening today? Turkey is still illegally occupying 38% of Cyprus in full contravention of international law, it is continuing with its provocations against Greece; it is still engaged in barbarous ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Kurdish people; it still insists on resolving the Kurdish issue through military intervention and it is continuing its military operations against the Kurds in Northern Iraq. Over 12 000 political prisoners are being held in its prisons where torture and murder are an everyday occurrence. Leila Zana, winner of the Sakharov prize, is still in prison, as are three Kurdish parliamentarians and famous writers and journalists. Recently, twelve political prisoners protesting against inhumane prison conditions were murdered.
Then there is the case of Mr Öçalan who, aside from the inhumane way in which he was abducted and imprisoned, was sentenced to death in a mockery of a trial, and whose sentence was unanimously upheld two days ago by the Turkish Supreme Court of Appeal. That shows just how sensitive the Ankara authorities really are to appeals for democratisation. Secondly, we are told that if we accept these regulations and release these appropriations, it will help the democratisation process. We were told the same thing when the Customs Union was signed five years ago. However, neither the constitution nor the criminal code has been democratised. The death penalty has still not been abolished, nor has the Kurdish issue been resolved politically and, according to statements by Turkish ministers, the Cyprus question “is no longer an issue”. So, believe me, if we vote in favour of the two regulations under discussion, despite their positive aspects, then this will certainly encourage the Turkish regime, which claims that Turkey is the most advanced democracy in all of Europe, to tighten its existing policies. We do not want to hit the forces fighting for true democracy, we want to send a message of solidarity to prisoners and push for real democratisation of the regime, which is why we urge you to vote against these two reports or, at least, to refer them back to the committee until such time as Turkey shows tangible evidence of democratisation and respect for international law."@en1
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