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TURKEY-GERMANY: SCHROEDER URGES TURKS TO CONTINUE REFORMS
AKI, Italy
May 4 2005
Ankara, 4 May (AKI) - The European Union will honour its pledge to
begin accession talks with Turkey in October, German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder said Wednesday, but he urged Turkey to "put into practice"
recent reforms and called for more religious freedom in the mostly
Muslim country. "The dynamics of reform should continue," Schroeder
told reporters after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan in Ankara. "The constitutional and other legal amendments
should be put into practice," he added. Schroeder, a strong backer of
Turkey's EU membership bid, assured Ankara that the bloc was determined
to open accession talks with Turkey on schedule on October 3.
Schroeder also reiterated EU demands on Turkey to allow greater
freedoms to its non-Muslim communities, mostly Orthodox Christians
and Jews.
"Religious freedom is a European principle," Schroder said. "It is
indisputable and is valid for Turkey as well. People should freely
practice their religions."
Turkey is under pressure to remove legal obstacles for non-Muslim
religious foundations to fully exercise their property rights and to
open a Greek Orthodox seminary in Istanbul closed down more than 30
years ago.
Schroeder also backed a proposal made by Turkey to Armenia for the
creation of a joint commission of historians to study allegations that
the Ottoman Turks committed genocide against their Armenian subjects
during World War I.
"We want Turkish-Armenian relations to improve," Schroeder said.
"Germany is ready to do its best to help in this issue and open
its archives."
Germany and the Ottoman Empire, from which the present-day Turkish
Republic was born, were allies during World War I, when the Armenian
massacres occurred.
Turkey has come under mounting international pressure to recognize
the 1915-17 killings as genocide; some EU politicians, including
the German opposition, argue that Ankara should address the genocide
claims if it wants to join the European bloc.
Erdogan denounced an appeal issued by the German parliament last
month calling on Ankara to face up to its history.
The two leaders said that they also discussed the Cyprus issue,
a major stumbling block to Turkey's EU membership bid.
Schroeder pledged he would work for the release of a 259-million-euro
EU aid package earmarked for the breakaway Turkish Cypriot community
and the activation of measures aimed at easing trade restriction
imposed on the island's Turkish sector.
The EU promised the aid last year as a reward for the strong support
that Turkish Cypriots gave to a UN peace plan, which was killed
off by an overwhelming "no" by the internationally recognised Greek
Cypriot side.
The measures have been blocked, however, because of opposition by
the Greek Cypriots, who joined the EU in May 2004.
Germany is Turkey's largest trading partner and home to the largest
Turkish immigrant community in Europe, some 2.5 million people.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.1627575 48&par=0
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
AKI, Italy
May 4 2005
Ankara, 4 May (AKI) - The European Union will honour its pledge to
begin accession talks with Turkey in October, German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder said Wednesday, but he urged Turkey to "put into practice"
recent reforms and called for more religious freedom in the mostly
Muslim country. "The dynamics of reform should continue," Schroeder
told reporters after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan in Ankara. "The constitutional and other legal amendments
should be put into practice," he added. Schroeder, a strong backer of
Turkey's EU membership bid, assured Ankara that the bloc was determined
to open accession talks with Turkey on schedule on October 3.
Schroeder also reiterated EU demands on Turkey to allow greater
freedoms to its non-Muslim communities, mostly Orthodox Christians
and Jews.
"Religious freedom is a European principle," Schroder said. "It is
indisputable and is valid for Turkey as well. People should freely
practice their religions."
Turkey is under pressure to remove legal obstacles for non-Muslim
religious foundations to fully exercise their property rights and to
open a Greek Orthodox seminary in Istanbul closed down more than 30
years ago.
Schroeder also backed a proposal made by Turkey to Armenia for the
creation of a joint commission of historians to study allegations that
the Ottoman Turks committed genocide against their Armenian subjects
during World War I.
"We want Turkish-Armenian relations to improve," Schroeder said.
"Germany is ready to do its best to help in this issue and open
its archives."
Germany and the Ottoman Empire, from which the present-day Turkish
Republic was born, were allies during World War I, when the Armenian
massacres occurred.
Turkey has come under mounting international pressure to recognize
the 1915-17 killings as genocide; some EU politicians, including
the German opposition, argue that Ankara should address the genocide
claims if it wants to join the European bloc.
Erdogan denounced an appeal issued by the German parliament last
month calling on Ankara to face up to its history.
The two leaders said that they also discussed the Cyprus issue,
a major stumbling block to Turkey's EU membership bid.
Schroeder pledged he would work for the release of a 259-million-euro
EU aid package earmarked for the breakaway Turkish Cypriot community
and the activation of measures aimed at easing trade restriction
imposed on the island's Turkish sector.
The EU promised the aid last year as a reward for the strong support
that Turkish Cypriots gave to a UN peace plan, which was killed
off by an overwhelming "no" by the internationally recognised Greek
Cypriot side.
The measures have been blocked, however, because of opposition by
the Greek Cypriots, who joined the EU in May 2004.
Germany is Turkey's largest trading partner and home to the largest
Turkish immigrant community in Europe, some 2.5 million people.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.1627575 48&par=0
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress