Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-19-Speech-2-126"
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"en.20021119.2.2-126"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, the enlargement of Europe brings us face to face with the historic question: we talk of enlarging Europe, but what exactly do we mean by Europe? I think that to interpret the Union as a reinstatement of a geographical entity would be excessively mechanistic. The European Union is, I think, a reinstatement of an historical reality which goes back three thousand years and which needs a new basis if it is to continue working. And all those who played a part during those three thousand years will, where they still exist, naturally have a place in modern-day Europe.
I say this because questions have been raised recently as to whether Turkey qualifies as a European country on the basis of geographical criteria. But of course the criteria cannot be geographical. Turkey is, without question, part of our history. May I remind you that when the crisis in the Ottoman Empire reached its peak in the nineteenth century, the European powers referred to the Sultan as ‘the sick man of Europe’, not the sick man of the Middle East or the sick man of Asia Minor.
What stands in Turkey's way is not its lack of European credentials, but its lack of democratic credentials and its expansionist foreign policy. Today there is cause for hope on both these fronts. The recent elections were another example of the Turkish Republic showing willing and demonstrated that a real, fundamental change of government is possible. All that remains to be seen is if permanent changes will be introduced which will consolidate democracy in Turkey and help satisfy the Copenhagen criteria. And, provided that the Copenhagen criteria are met, there will be no further obstacle to Turkey's becoming a member of the European Union.
As for the second issue, its aggressive, militaristic foreign policy, here too there is a criterion and that criterion is, of course, a resolution to the Cyprus problem, the occupation of northern Cyprus by the Turkish army. If, as it has been asked to do in European Parliament resolutions, Turkey really wants to help resolve the Cyprus problem on the basis of the UN Secretary-General's most recent plan, then it will start backing off in its foreign policy as well. This will bring about a peaceful revolution in this area, which will be especially valuable to Turkey, which has more need than anyone to carve out a democratic future for itself at last."@en1
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