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Europe
EU's Rehn Says Turks Must Implement EU-Sought Changes (Update1)
March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey must keep implementing measures needed to join
the European Union as it prepares for membership talks in October, EU
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said.
Turkey should continue to strengthen minority and women's rights in all
areas of the country, including the mainly Kurdish southeast, Rehn told
reporters in Ankara late yesterday, after meeting Turkish Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul.
"It's very important that the momentum of the reforms is kept up, that
Turkey keeps up the momentum of the legal, political and also increasingly
the economic reforms, especially as regards the implementation of these
reforms," Rehn said.
Turkey says the membership talks with the EU will help it reduce the cost of
servicing its $250 billion debt and attract foreign investment. Hansjoerg
Kretschmer, the head of the European Commission in Turkey, last week said
Turkey's implementation of EU- backed laws had slowed since it won a date to
start membership talks with the EU three months ago.
The EU will run the so-called "screening process" for membership parallel
with accession negotiations when talks with Turkey begin in October, Rehn
said. Turkey before then should maintain zero tolerance for torture and
respect freedom of expression and the rights of non-Muslims, he said.
The U.S. and Britain says the EU must embrace a country that's both Muslim
and democratic to help win the war on terror and encourage democracy in the
Middle East. Turkey, which became a candidate for membership of the EU in
1999, borders countries including Iraq, Iran, Syria and Armenia. It's the
only member of the North Atlantic treaty Organization that's 99 percent
Muslim.
Government Denial
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denied that his government has
slowed the pace of legislative change aimed at meeting EU and International
Monetary Fund criteria, the daily Sabah said, citing comments made by
Erdogan in Ankara yesterday.
The European Union aims to publish a framework for the negotiations with
Turkey by the end of June, Rehn said. The document outlines the political
and economic steps the nation must take before it can join the 25-nation EU.
"The work will have to go on, the reforms have to be consolidated and
continued," he said. "This means that we will continue monitoring and we
will support the reform work done by Turkey to make the rule of law apply in
all walks of life, in all areas of Turkey. This is a process, not a
one-stop."
EU Talks
Rehn, Gul and Jean Asselborn, the foreign minister of Luxembourg, which
currently holds the EU presidency, are meeting in Ankara today for talks on
Turkey's candidacy. They are due to hold a news conference at 3 p.m. local
time.
"The government has perhaps been too busy with other domestic and political
issues," said Volkan Kurt, an economist at Finans Yatirim Securities in
Istanbul. "The problem of course has been on the implementation side. The
government needs more time for implementation of the reforms."
Turkey's government says it displays "zero tolerance" toward torture in
the nation's police stations and jails. The government must do more to
implement that policy, particularly in the mainly-Kurdish southeast of the
country, Yusuf Alatas, head of the Human Rights Association, said in an
interview on March 3.
The government must tackle problems with freedom of expression that have
resulted in several court cases against the media in the past year, the EU's
Kretschmer said last week.
Turkey can't join the EU because its culture and history isn't sufficiently
European, say some EU politicians including Nicolas Sarkozy, leader of
French President Jacques Chirac's Union for a Popular Movement Party. Chirac
last year said the talks may take 15 years to complete.
By 2025, Turkey would swallow up EU farm and regional subsidies equal to
about 0.17 percent of annual European economic output, or about $20 billion
in today's terms, the European Commission said in a report published in
October. France, the biggest beneficiary of the EU's $47 billion budget for
agriculture, gets $9 billion in farm aid.
The EU's political leaders agreed at a summit on Dec. 17 to start the
negotiations with Turkey after the government curbed the political influence
of the military and improved cultural and language rights for the nation's
12 million Kurds.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mark Bentley in Ankara at [email protected].
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Catherine Hickley in Berlin at [email protected].
Last Updated: March 7, 2005 04:20 EST
Europe
EU's Rehn Says Turks Must Implement EU-Sought Changes (Update1)
March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey must keep implementing measures needed to join
the European Union as it prepares for membership talks in October, EU
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said.
Turkey should continue to strengthen minority and women's rights in all
areas of the country, including the mainly Kurdish southeast, Rehn told
reporters in Ankara late yesterday, after meeting Turkish Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul.
"It's very important that the momentum of the reforms is kept up, that
Turkey keeps up the momentum of the legal, political and also increasingly
the economic reforms, especially as regards the implementation of these
reforms," Rehn said.
Turkey says the membership talks with the EU will help it reduce the cost of
servicing its $250 billion debt and attract foreign investment. Hansjoerg
Kretschmer, the head of the European Commission in Turkey, last week said
Turkey's implementation of EU- backed laws had slowed since it won a date to
start membership talks with the EU three months ago.
The EU will run the so-called "screening process" for membership parallel
with accession negotiations when talks with Turkey begin in October, Rehn
said. Turkey before then should maintain zero tolerance for torture and
respect freedom of expression and the rights of non-Muslims, he said.
The U.S. and Britain says the EU must embrace a country that's both Muslim
and democratic to help win the war on terror and encourage democracy in the
Middle East. Turkey, which became a candidate for membership of the EU in
1999, borders countries including Iraq, Iran, Syria and Armenia. It's the
only member of the North Atlantic treaty Organization that's 99 percent
Muslim.
Government Denial
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denied that his government has
slowed the pace of legislative change aimed at meeting EU and International
Monetary Fund criteria, the daily Sabah said, citing comments made by
Erdogan in Ankara yesterday.
The European Union aims to publish a framework for the negotiations with
Turkey by the end of June, Rehn said. The document outlines the political
and economic steps the nation must take before it can join the 25-nation EU.
"The work will have to go on, the reforms have to be consolidated and
continued," he said. "This means that we will continue monitoring and we
will support the reform work done by Turkey to make the rule of law apply in
all walks of life, in all areas of Turkey. This is a process, not a
one-stop."
EU Talks
Rehn, Gul and Jean Asselborn, the foreign minister of Luxembourg, which
currently holds the EU presidency, are meeting in Ankara today for talks on
Turkey's candidacy. They are due to hold a news conference at 3 p.m. local
time.
"The government has perhaps been too busy with other domestic and political
issues," said Volkan Kurt, an economist at Finans Yatirim Securities in
Istanbul. "The problem of course has been on the implementation side. The
government needs more time for implementation of the reforms."
Turkey's government says it displays "zero tolerance" toward torture in
the nation's police stations and jails. The government must do more to
implement that policy, particularly in the mainly-Kurdish southeast of the
country, Yusuf Alatas, head of the Human Rights Association, said in an
interview on March 3.
The government must tackle problems with freedom of expression that have
resulted in several court cases against the media in the past year, the EU's
Kretschmer said last week.
Turkey can't join the EU because its culture and history isn't sufficiently
European, say some EU politicians including Nicolas Sarkozy, leader of
French President Jacques Chirac's Union for a Popular Movement Party. Chirac
last year said the talks may take 15 years to complete.
By 2025, Turkey would swallow up EU farm and regional subsidies equal to
about 0.17 percent of annual European economic output, or about $20 billion
in today's terms, the European Commission said in a report published in
October. France, the biggest beneficiary of the EU's $47 billion budget for
agriculture, gets $9 billion in farm aid.
The EU's political leaders agreed at a summit on Dec. 17 to start the
negotiations with Turkey after the government curbed the political influence
of the military and improved cultural and language rights for the nation's
12 million Kurds.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mark Bentley in Ankara at [email protected].
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Catherine Hickley in Berlin at [email protected].
Last Updated: March 7, 2005 04:20 EST