Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-01-Speech-4-044"
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"en.20040401.2.4-044"2
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"Madam President, I too should like to congratulate Mr Oostlander, who managed to produce a report that was approved by both the advocates and the opponents of Turkish accession in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy. This is no mean feat and is due to the very reasonable and balanced line of argument he follows from beginning to end – well, almost from beginning to end, but more of that in a moment.
I should like to say that Mrs Stenzel speaks with the voice of wisdom when she points out that we are not seeing the whole picture if we only assess Turkey’s progress but do not examine the state of readiness of the European Union, in its various fields of political activity, to receive Turkey, and this is no trifling matter.
The point I should like to pick up, Mr Oostlander, is that of secularism. Paragraph 32 of your report seems to me to proceed from a slightly jaundiced view of the secularism which is perhaps the most valuable part of the legacy of Kemal Atatürk. The separation of church and state is not an archaic formula but a recipe for the future of our Union. The fact that the government of a country whose people are mainly Muslim is trying to put this separation into practice is, I believe, an asset for which Turkey deserves credit, not an obstacle to progress."@en1
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