Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-12-Speech-3-193"
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"en.20000412.7.3-193"2
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"Mr President, the Council has already raised with the Turkish authorities the issue of the democratic rights of Turks of Kurdish origin, including those mentioned in the question. It will continue to monitor this situation in Turkey as it develops and to act accordingly. An Association Council meeting was held yesterday between the European Union and Turkey in which this issue was mentioned again. The Turkish authorities were told of the EU’s concern about this type of issue and of its hope that the Turkish authorities will end what is currently interpreted as a non-compliance with certain basic criteria of respect for human and democratic rights and the protection of minorities.
Turkey was named by the Helsinki European Council as a candidate country for accession to the European Union. This status places Turkey in absolutely the same position as any other candidate country in terms of both obligations and benefits. Therefore, Turkey is subject to the same requirements as those imposed on any other candidate country but also naturally has the same rights. The European Union cannot make a special case of Turkey which must be treated exactly the same as any other candidate country.
Turkey is therefore currently involved in a process in which its situation must be assessed in light of the criteria of the Copenhagen European Council. These criteria are clear enough with regard to respect for the rule of law, democratic guarantees, fundamental freedoms and the protection of minorities. These are a prerequisite for the opening of any negotiating process. On the road towards this, a pre-accession strategy must be established between the Commission, on the EU’s behalf, and Turkey. The preparation of this strategy involves non-governmental organisations, the Member States and the Turkish Government. This accession partnership will define the priority areas for reform on which the European Union considers that Turkey must concentrate its efforts in order to comply, hopefully in a progressive, capable and complete manner, with the Copenhagen criteria. Clearly it is in this context that the issues mentioned in the questions will be considered."@en1
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