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Gulf Times, Qatar
Oct 9 2005
EU presses Ankara over reforms
Published: Sunday, 9 October, 2005, 10:14 AM Doha Time
ISTANBUL: The European Commission underlined yesterday that progress
in Turkey's just-started EU entry talks depends crucially on the
speed of reforms by Ankara, warning it faces a `difficult journey'.
Turkey, which has been knocking at the European club's door for four
decades, finally started EU talks last Tuesday after marathon
haggling overcame Austrian demands that Ankara be offered something
less than full membership.
But the EU has stressed all along that there is no guarantee of
eventual EU membership, and the talks are expected in any case to
last for at least a decade.
`The pace of the negotiations will be ... determined by the pace of
the reforms,' said European Union (EU) enlargement commissioner Olli
Rehn, after a meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. `It
will be a difficult journey.'
Rehn, who will lead the negotiations on behalf of the EU's executive
arm, also called on Turkish leaders to help overcome prejudices among
both ordinary Turks and Europeans.
`We need to work for better communication between Europe and Turkey
and with our citizens so we can surmount unnecessary difficulties,'
he said. `We discussed how to combat prejudices in Turkey and EU.'
Critics in Europe argue that the vast mostly-Muslim country, which
straddles the border Europe and Asia, is simply too economically and
culturally different to join the rich European club, where
Christianity remains the dominant faith.
Erdogan echoed the EU's official's comments, warning of a `difficult
process'.
`Naturally we will face many difficulties along the road,' he said,
while insisting that Ankara will ultimately succeed in negotiating
its EU entry.
Rehn had discussions with Turkish officials in the capital Ankara on
Thursday, and on Friday travelled to Kayseri in central Anatolia, the
hometown of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.
Yesterday Rehn also met best-selling Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk,
who faces a possible three-year jail sentence for his views, and
urged EU candidate Turkey to respect freedom of expression.
`Free speech and free expression are core values of the European
Union,' Rehn's spokesman Krisztina Nagy quoted him as saying after
meeting Pamuk at his home in Istanbul.
`You don't have to agree with everything a writer or journalist says
but they all have a right to express themselves freely,' Rehn was
quoted as saying.
Pamuk, best known for historical novels such as My Name is Red and
The White Castle, is being charged in connection with claims that
Armenians suffered genocide at Ottoman Turkish hands during World War
I. The first hearing in his trial has been set for December 16.
Underlining the sensitivity of the Armenian issue in Turkey, an
Istanbul court gave Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrank Dink a
six-month suspended sentence on Friday for `insulting Turkish
identity' in an article he wrote. -
Oct 9 2005
EU presses Ankara over reforms
Published: Sunday, 9 October, 2005, 10:14 AM Doha Time
ISTANBUL: The European Commission underlined yesterday that progress
in Turkey's just-started EU entry talks depends crucially on the
speed of reforms by Ankara, warning it faces a `difficult journey'.
Turkey, which has been knocking at the European club's door for four
decades, finally started EU talks last Tuesday after marathon
haggling overcame Austrian demands that Ankara be offered something
less than full membership.
But the EU has stressed all along that there is no guarantee of
eventual EU membership, and the talks are expected in any case to
last for at least a decade.
`The pace of the negotiations will be ... determined by the pace of
the reforms,' said European Union (EU) enlargement commissioner Olli
Rehn, after a meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. `It
will be a difficult journey.'
Rehn, who will lead the negotiations on behalf of the EU's executive
arm, also called on Turkish leaders to help overcome prejudices among
both ordinary Turks and Europeans.
`We need to work for better communication between Europe and Turkey
and with our citizens so we can surmount unnecessary difficulties,'
he said. `We discussed how to combat prejudices in Turkey and EU.'
Critics in Europe argue that the vast mostly-Muslim country, which
straddles the border Europe and Asia, is simply too economically and
culturally different to join the rich European club, where
Christianity remains the dominant faith.
Erdogan echoed the EU's official's comments, warning of a `difficult
process'.
`Naturally we will face many difficulties along the road,' he said,
while insisting that Ankara will ultimately succeed in negotiating
its EU entry.
Rehn had discussions with Turkish officials in the capital Ankara on
Thursday, and on Friday travelled to Kayseri in central Anatolia, the
hometown of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.
Yesterday Rehn also met best-selling Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk,
who faces a possible three-year jail sentence for his views, and
urged EU candidate Turkey to respect freedom of expression.
`Free speech and free expression are core values of the European
Union,' Rehn's spokesman Krisztina Nagy quoted him as saying after
meeting Pamuk at his home in Istanbul.
`You don't have to agree with everything a writer or journalist says
but they all have a right to express themselves freely,' Rehn was
quoted as saying.
Pamuk, best known for historical novels such as My Name is Red and
The White Castle, is being charged in connection with claims that
Armenians suffered genocide at Ottoman Turkish hands during World War
I. The first hearing in his trial has been set for December 16.
Underlining the sensitivity of the Armenian issue in Turkey, an
Istanbul court gave Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrank Dink a
six-month suspended sentence on Friday for `insulting Turkish
identity' in an article he wrote. -