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Schroeder: Opposition push for Armenian massacre recognition won't become EU
condition
AP Worldstream
Apr 29, 2005
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Friday sought to assure Turkey
that a German opposition push for Turkey to examine its role in the
massacre of Armenians at the time of World War I will not become a
condition to the start EU membership talks this October.
Schroeder, who is to visit Turkey next week, is a strong supporter of
this mainly Muslim country's EU bid. There have been concerns that a
recent slowdown in the pace of Turkish reforms might derail the talks.
At a December European Union summit, the bloc agreed to open
membership talks with Turkey if it takes steps toward recognizing the
government of EU-member Cyprus _ a step it has long refused to take.
In an interview Friday with the private Turkish television channel
NTV, Schroeder said Turkey must adopt a customs agreement that would
mean de facto recognition of the government of Cyprus. He also urged
Turkey to put a new penal code into effect that was passed last year,
but that was temporarily suspended earlier this month.
"Both sides have to put what they said into practice," Schroeder said.
Cyprus has been split into Greek and Turkish Cypriot sectors since a
1974 invasion by Turkey sparked by a failed coup aimed at unifying the
island with Greece.
Schroeder also sought to calm Turkish concerns that its refusal to
recognize the mass killings of Armenians as genocide could upset its
bid.
Germany's conservative opposition, which is cool toward Turkey's EU
bid, earlier this year submitted a parliamentary motion calling for
Turkey to examine its role in the Armenian deaths.
But Schroeder said: "We said that this will in no way be a new
condition. ... This is the job of historians."
Armenians accuses Turkey of genocide in the killings of up to 1.5
million Armenians as part of a 1915-23 campaign to force them out of
eastern Turkey. But Turkey denies that the killings were genocide and
says the death count is inflated.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
condition
AP Worldstream
Apr 29, 2005
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Friday sought to assure Turkey
that a German opposition push for Turkey to examine its role in the
massacre of Armenians at the time of World War I will not become a
condition to the start EU membership talks this October.
Schroeder, who is to visit Turkey next week, is a strong supporter of
this mainly Muslim country's EU bid. There have been concerns that a
recent slowdown in the pace of Turkish reforms might derail the talks.
At a December European Union summit, the bloc agreed to open
membership talks with Turkey if it takes steps toward recognizing the
government of EU-member Cyprus _ a step it has long refused to take.
In an interview Friday with the private Turkish television channel
NTV, Schroeder said Turkey must adopt a customs agreement that would
mean de facto recognition of the government of Cyprus. He also urged
Turkey to put a new penal code into effect that was passed last year,
but that was temporarily suspended earlier this month.
"Both sides have to put what they said into practice," Schroeder said.
Cyprus has been split into Greek and Turkish Cypriot sectors since a
1974 invasion by Turkey sparked by a failed coup aimed at unifying the
island with Greece.
Schroeder also sought to calm Turkish concerns that its refusal to
recognize the mass killings of Armenians as genocide could upset its
bid.
Germany's conservative opposition, which is cool toward Turkey's EU
bid, earlier this year submitted a parliamentary motion calling for
Turkey to examine its role in the Armenian deaths.
But Schroeder said: "We said that this will in no way be a new
condition. ... This is the job of historians."
Armenians accuses Turkey of genocide in the killings of up to 1.5
million Armenians as part of a 1915-23 campaign to force them out of
eastern Turkey. But Turkey denies that the killings were genocide and
says the death count is inflated.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress