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  • Turkish Business Pushes The Case For EU Accession

    TURKISH BUSINESS PUSHES THE CASE FOR EU ACCESSION

    EurActiv, Belgium
    Oct 4 2006

    In Short:

    The Turkey-Europe-week launched on 3 October 2006 is set out to
    revive the debate about Turkish EU membership.

    Background:

    Accession negotiations were officially launched in October 2005.

    Nevertheless, EU-Turkey relations have cooled down recently with the
    main stumbling blocks on the road to accession being the Cyprus issue
    and freedom of speech.

    The European parliament on 27 September 2006 voted on a critical
    report urging Turkey to improve its record of freedom of speech,
    freedom of religion and to find a solution to the Cyprus issue.

    Issues:

    On the occasion of the Turkey-week, launched on 3 October 2006,
    Turkish industry sought to charm EU institutions and business with
    economic arguments for Turkey's accession.

    Omer Sabanci, President of Turkish Industrialists' and Business
    Association (TUSIAD) said: "What is important now is that we continue
    to convince our European counterparts that they have a vested interest
    in Turkey's EU membership." He added: "Even though politicians at
    present are seeing many hurdles to Turkey's accession, business is
    seeing the opportunities. Its vibrant economy, with a GDP of 300
    billion euro and a growth rate of 6%, will be a great asset to the EU."

    Answering a question from EurActiv on the economic integration aspect,
    Sabanci emphasised the importance of economic ties, stating that
    commerce between the EU and Turkey represented 80 billion euro.

    Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener suggested that since the customs
    union between the EU and Turkey had already been completed in 1996,
    his country had to make a greater effort to be an attractive economic
    partner for the EU, in order to reach further integration.

    Positions:

    Omer Sabaci of TUSIAD said he was disappointed with the EU penalising
    Turkey, despite their efforts, but acknowledged that there was "no
    magic formula to break the gridlock". He thinks that Turkey with
    its young and educated population could be "a great economic hub
    for Europe".

    Social Democrat MEP Emine Bozkurt hopes the Turkey-week might help
    to revive the debate on Turkey's EU accession. She said it was
    important to acknowledge the important benefits that Turkey could
    bring to the EU in economic and geo-strategic terms, but also in the
    area of energy policy. Bozkurt would like to see the EU and Turkey
    resolve their issues, notably over Cyprus, so as to avoid a halt of
    negotiations. She said: "Once the train stops, it will be difficult
    to get back on track."

    Green MEP Joost Lagendijk acknowledged that the EU-Turkey relations
    seem to be heading for a crisis, but that it was in the interest of
    both the EU and Turkey to continue the negotiations. He is confident
    that there will be progress on the Cyprus issue, "either in form of
    a resolution or a compromise".

    He also warned that a law penalising the denial of the Armenian
    genocide, currently discussed in the French parliament, might be
    counterproductive and create a nationalist backlash in Turkey.

    Latest & next steps:

    The Commission's progress report on Turkey is due on 8 November
    2006, along with the Commission paper on the topic of "enlargement
    capacity". The Council will vote on this report in December 2006.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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