Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-28-Speech-3-057"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050928.3.3-057"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, last Christmas the Council voted for Turkey when it agreed that accession negotiations could begin on 3 October 2005, provided certain conditions were met. Those conditions have been met. The process of modernisation that has been taking place in Turkey over the past 70 years has been massively accelerated and additional attention is now being given to human rights issues and to overcoming historic grievances.
Of course, there are still dissident elements within Turkey that pursue separatist ambitions or wish to reorient Turkey away from westernisation. Care must therefore be taken to ensure that any weakening of protective state structures does not become an opportunity for radical elements to change the nature of Turkey's unified and secular democracy.
We have heard that the negotiations will be the most rigorous yet. Natural justice and fair play should demand that Turkey be treated in the same way as other candidate countries to the European Union. The Cyprus issue should be a matter quite separate from the candidacy of Turkey, but it has become inextricably linked. The history of that island has been distorted these past 30 or so years. There have been wrongs on both sides and no justice is served by the pretence that the Turks alone carry the blame. We should ask no more of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots in relation to the Republic of Cyprus than we ask of Greece and the Greek Cypriots in relation to Northern Cyprus. It was the people of Northern Cyprus who voted in favour of the Annan Plan; it is the Government of Northern Cyprus that has expressed its readiness to reopen negotiations on the basis of the UN Secretary-General's plan. The rejectionists are in the south. Why should Turkey open its ports to ships flying the flag of the Republic of Cyprus when the ports of Northern Cyprus are closed to international trade and direct international flights cannot land at Ercan airport?
In May 2004 the EU Council promised to end the isolation of Northern Cyprus, but has done little about it. That is not justice. The Cyprus issue must be resolved. The unification that so many of us want to see must be brought about in a manner which meets the concerns and interests of both communities on the island, not just one.
I welcome the opening of negotiations with Turkey. Those negotiations will last for many years. Commissioner Rehn has correctly observed that for Turkey the journey is as important as the destination. What is clear is that the prospect of Turkey's accession will have a catalytic effect on the nature of the European Union; the EU will have to drop its integrationist ambitions and become a looser community of sovereign nations. This will be of enormous benefit to us all."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples