Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-14-Speech-2-072"
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"en.20001114.3.2-072"2
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"Mr President, is Turkey really ready to solve internal and overseas problems such as the conflict over Cyprus and the minorities issue, to the satisfaction of the European Union?
Turkey’s former Foreign Minister, Mümtaz Soysal, recently put this pressing question. It is an extremely opportune question, as it happens, because just how important is it to Ankara that Turkey accedes to the European Union? It is common knowledge that to do so, Turkey must first fulfil the Copenhagen Criteria. As Mr Morillon rightly states in his well-balanced report, there is no sign whatsoever of this happening yet.
Mr President, with your permission I would like to briefly take up three fundamental points in Mr Morillon’s report: the political influence exerted by the Turkish army, the Kurdish question and the aspect referred to earlier of ‘tolerance for other religions and cultures’.
When it comes to the political influence exerted by the Turkish army – and it is unremitting to this day! – the very primacy of civilian politics is at stake, no less. Why are Turkey’s politicians failing to deliver the goods on this crucial issue of power? Or perhaps they are only too willing to hide behind the military apparatus when it comes to European demands for reform?
If Turkey were to allow the Kurds, of which there are some 12 million, full cultural autonomy, this could largely defuse the thorny Kurdish issue.
Yet how hard it is to win the Turkish political establishment over to this solution, from which both parties stand to benefit. Take, for example, the implacable attitude of the chairman of the parliamentary committee for Foreign Affairs, Kamran Inan. This mentor for Turkish foreign policy categorically rules out any form of concession over Cyprus or the Kurds. According to Inan, in the final analysis, uncertain membership of the European Union is no compensation for the sacrifice of national interests.
Incidentally, the ultranationalist MHP party was in deadly earnest when it underlined ‘the superiority of the Turkish race’ at its party conference ten days ago. And remember, according to the latest opinion polls the MHP is the most popular political movement in Turkey.
Mr Morillon makes the point in recital D that the successors to the legendary Atatürk should not perceive the Union as an 'exclusive Christian club' but as a community of shared values which embrace, in particular, ‘tolerance for other religions and cultures’
The fact of the matter is that by and large, the position of the Christian minority in Turkey is worse than that of Muslim groups in Europe. It is certainly a good deal easier to build a mosque in Europe than it is to build a church in Turkey; which is another point the Commission and Parliament should give serious thought to in their contacts with the Turkish authorities."@en1
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