Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-11-Speech-2-252"
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"en.20000411.9.2-252"2
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"Mr President, the discussion here today is quite an interesting one; nonetheless, we should see to it that Turkey is judged in light of the clear-cut European criteria and that Greco-Turkish relations are not used as a fig leaf to mask a different reality.
I would like to add two or three minor points. Turkey has its internal problems, but it has its external problems, too. It could, for instance, show willing by accepting the jurisdiction of the court in The Hague, or the Court of Human Rights. But no, this is not the case.
Secondly, in our endeavours to help Turkey integrate into the European Union, we must be strict when it comes to compliance with the political requirements we have laid down. In this sense, if we try to paint a skewed picture of reality, then of course it will be a false one. And in politics, false realities produce false results. As for the problems cited by Turkey, there is Kemal Ataturk’s theory which says that “there is a danger that our unity will crumble and henceforth we should not say that we are Turks, we should say that we call ourselves Turks”. There is a huge difference in meaning, because to say I am not a Turk, but I call myself a Turk leads some to reason that all nationalities should be ground together into one pulp from which a new human race can evolve. As you know, historically, such a thing is just not possible.
In this sense, it is clear that, first, the democratization of Turkey must be the most we can strive for and, at the same time, the very least and, secondly, we should put an end to Turkey’s fears that it will crumble as a nation if its recognizes the rights it should be according minority groups, because there are not only the Kurdish minorities, there are also Arabs, crypto-Christians
and other minority groups. In any case, what is certain is that if we do want to help Turkey, we must insist that the political criteria are respected, and I would like to add the following: to date at least, as far as I know, the only real forces in Turkey in favour of the European strategy are the forces of economy and we should bear this in mind."@en1
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