Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-22-Speech-4-013"
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"en.20040422.1.4-013"2
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"Mr President, I would like to support the fine rhetoric of my fellow Member Mr Lagendijk. I would prefer Ms Leyla Zana to be at liberty in a country that is negotiating with the European Union. That is actually the only option which I find acceptable.
It is in fact very rare for someone to have spent so long in prison and to have held the Sakharov prize for almost as long. The situation is quite extraordinary. It is also very unusual for the European Union to have continued proceeding on a 'business as usual' basis for so long. This cannot continue. We must make more of a nuisance of ourselves, exert more pressure so that this pressure can in turn be exerted on the opposing forces in Turkey.
The old state philosophy, the old type of Kemalism, still holds considerable sway as can be seen in this trial. Those in charge are themselves supporters of this old philosophy and of course time and again come to the same conclusion. I agree with other Members who have already taken the floor and made the point that the unusual feature here is that the Government, as we must recognise, is doing its best and has adopted some dramatic legal reforms. The Government was behind the change allowing trials to be reopened, in particular. It also introduced the option to free someone from prison, but this is not used: the legislation is either not used at all or not used properly. I believe that we must persuade our own governments of this. It is not just a question of isolated symptoms, like the serious case of Leyla Zana and her associates. It is a consequence of a more profound question which we must discuss with Turkey. I would also add that in my opinion it is essential to build up contacts between European judges and public prosecutors and their Turkish counterparts in order to change attitudes, as the wrong attitude can take us down the wrong track time after time, falling into the trap of nationalistic hatred against minorities caused by the fear that they could undermine the integrity of the State.
For these reasons I think that we must press for the existing opportunities to be used to free Ms Leyla Zana and others imprisoned for similar so-called offences in anticipation of reform of the entire legal process."@en1
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