Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-01-Speech-4-048"
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"en.20040401.2.4-048"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, what I want to say about Turkey is that I regard the Copenhagen criteria as a fundamental precondition, and believe that they are indeed, as regards the protection of human and minority rights, not being fulfilled in any sense in which we understand them or should understand them, as a community of values. I am thinking here of the Kurds, but also of the religious minorities.
To Mr Ceyhun, who spoke earlier, I would say that there was much in his speech that I did not understand. I am sure that he was not merely tolerated; we enjoyed very good neighbourly relations, being immediate neighbours here in Strasbourg. Such neighbourliness can be built on, and I believe that a privileged partnership constitutes a third way between members and non-members of the European Union and those who have a privileged relationship with the European Union and must also have a space for the future.
We have different conceptions of the future of the European Union; ours is that this Europe, this European Union of ours, must have borders, and that is why we conclude special agreements with our immediate neighbours. With this in mind, I believe that Turkey, be it for reasons of history, geography or culture, would not fit in as a direct member of the European Union, and I hope that we will go on along this third way with the courage it deserves. Here too, the Commission and the Council should exercise greater imagination, rather than simply pointing out that the way is, in any case, already mapped out."@en1
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