Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-11-Speech-2-241"
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"en.20000411.9.2-241"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, your statements have reinforced a belief and an impression I have. I believe that the journey on which we embarked at Helsinki will be a long one and that no one is yet able to predict where it will end, except in Turkey’s assuming an important position either inside or outside of the European Union. The public and private sector spokesmen we recently met in Turkey all readily agreed on this.
My feeling is that certain representatives of the Turkish people are discovering, as a result of December’s decision, that accession to the Union will mean not only drastic reform of their institutions, but also radical changes in mindsets. This is reflected in the distrust shown, as the Commissioner has just reported, towards European institutions in general and the representatives of the European Parliament in particular.
Firstly, there was the refusal of the request to visit Leyla Zana, which resulted in the postponement of the meeting of the joint European Union-Turkey Parliamentary Committee scheduled for 22 and 23 February. Then, on the same day, at a time when your rapporteur was in Ankara, there was the arrest of three Kurdish mayors from the south-eastern region. Lastly, on 28 March, there was the arrest and reimprisonment of Akin Birdal, President of the Turkish Association for the Defence of Human Rights, at a time when a delegation from this Parliament was visiting Turkey.
I would ask the Council and the Commission whether it would not be appropriate, given the circumstances, to state quite clearly that while the Union is not in the business of telling anyone what to do, it is founded on the will to promote and safeguard certain fundamental values, prominent among which are respect for human rights and the rights and duties of minorities.
This is what Parliament will once again underline in the resolution, which is to be submitted for the approval of the Members next Thursday, urging the Turkish Government and the political parties of Turkey to turn to good account the constitutional review that is currently in progress in order to implement pressing reforms, in line with the Helsinki Agreements, that will enable the Turkish State to guarantee the democratic rights that we consider essential. The ball is in Turkey’s court. It is up to Turkey to decide whether the first obstacles encountered on this new road are to prove insurmountable or not."@en1
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