Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-18-Speech-4-151"
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"en.20010118.8.4-151"2
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"Mr President, when a debate on the unacceptable situation in Turkish prisons was scheduled during the last plenary session of the European Parliament in December 2000, and the relevant motions for resolutions were withdrawn due to a lack of coordination between the political groups involved, the disturbance in the Turkish prisons was still in its infancy and the reaction of the Turkish authorities had not yet manifested itself in all its barbarity.
Of course, for a less problematic country than Turkey, the very fact that the European Parliament intended to take an interest in the matter would be incentive enough to put a stop to any thought of violating its legal and moral obligations. Turkey, however, did exactly the opposite, confirming yet again that it is indeed a problematic country. It blatantly and disdainfully ignored the Parliament of the European Union, which it nonetheless aspires to join and, applying its favourite standard practice, engaged just a few days later in the shameless slaughter of dozens of prisoners, provoking an international outcry.
Today's condemnatory – and in my view excessively lenient – resolution is, nonetheless, the obvious and a positive albeit, unfortunately, inadequate reaction in the case of Turkey, which has repeatedly proven that it is indifferent to such reprimands. So what we need, at long last, is for the European Union and the wider international community to deal with Turkey – in deed not just word – using the same weights and measures and the same rules as those used in similar problematic cases in order to impose respect for democratic principles, human rights and the rule of law, i.e. without postponing expedient political and other action and interests and without showing tolerant understanding of so-called Turkish idiosyncrasies. And as regards the European Union in particular, to make it crystal clear at long last to Turkey and to its non-European supporters, not just in words but – I repeat – with deeds, that the door by which Turkey is to enter the European family, even though there is some doubt as to whether it belongs there, will remain very firmly shut unless it absolutely and unreservedly brings its internal and international conduct into line with the rudimentary rules of law and ethics which underpin the workings of a modern cultivated society."@en1
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