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Schroeder highlights human rights during Turkey visit
Expatica, Netherlands
May 4 2005
ANKARA - Turkey must continue to implement human rights reforms ahead
of European Union membership negotiations due to begin in October,
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said on Wednesday.
In Turkey for a two-day official visit, Schroeder told Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the reforms already passed by Turkey were
important, but that proper implementation was necessary.
He said that changes to the law to give religious minorities further
rights were a good step, but that the reforms must go further.
Erdogan said, however, that there had been no direct request from
Schroeder to allow the reopening of a Greek Orthodox seminary on the
Marmara Sea island of
Heybeliada, which has been closed since 1971 when all private tertiary
institutions were outlawed.
Speaking at a press conference with Erdogan, Schroeder tried to allay
fears in Turkey that failure to ratify the EU constitution would
mean Turkey being left outside the union. The treaty is viewed as
essential for an expanded EU.
Schroeder said he supported a Turkish proposal for a joint meeting
of historians to discuss whether the deaths of hundreds of thousands
of Armenians during World War One constituted genocide.
Turkey historically has denied genocide took place and the issue has
threatened to hurt Turkey's EU membership chances.
Speaking later at Marmara University in Istanbul where he received an
honorary doctorate, Schroeder said Turkey could learn from Germany's
own experience.
In coming to terms with what it did during World War Two, it had
contributed to peace in Europe. The once hated enemies, France and
Germany, were now close friends.
The German chancellor also met Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
in Ankara and the spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox Church,
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and attended a Turkish- German
Economic Forum.
Expatica, Netherlands
May 4 2005
ANKARA - Turkey must continue to implement human rights reforms ahead
of European Union membership negotiations due to begin in October,
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said on Wednesday.
In Turkey for a two-day official visit, Schroeder told Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the reforms already passed by Turkey were
important, but that proper implementation was necessary.
He said that changes to the law to give religious minorities further
rights were a good step, but that the reforms must go further.
Erdogan said, however, that there had been no direct request from
Schroeder to allow the reopening of a Greek Orthodox seminary on the
Marmara Sea island of
Heybeliada, which has been closed since 1971 when all private tertiary
institutions were outlawed.
Speaking at a press conference with Erdogan, Schroeder tried to allay
fears in Turkey that failure to ratify the EU constitution would
mean Turkey being left outside the union. The treaty is viewed as
essential for an expanded EU.
Schroeder said he supported a Turkish proposal for a joint meeting
of historians to discuss whether the deaths of hundreds of thousands
of Armenians during World War One constituted genocide.
Turkey historically has denied genocide took place and the issue has
threatened to hurt Turkey's EU membership chances.
Speaking later at Marmara University in Istanbul where he received an
honorary doctorate, Schroeder said Turkey could learn from Germany's
own experience.
In coming to terms with what it did during World War Two, it had
contributed to peace in Europe. The once hated enemies, France and
Germany, were now close friends.
The German chancellor also met Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
in Ankara and the spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox Church,
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and attended a Turkish- German
Economic Forum.