Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-16-Speech-3-152"
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"en.20010516.5.3-152"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Council welcomes this opportunity to discuss the situation in Turkish prisons and notes with satisfaction that the European Parliament, like the Council and the Commission, is heavily engaged in this issue. The visit to Ankara from 30 April to 1 May by members of the EU-Turkey
Joint Parliamentary Committee showed that the European Parliament has an important role to play. The Council, the Commission and Parliament should continue their joint efforts to stimulate the Turkish government into continued political reform in order to meet the Copenhagen Criteria and take measures to bring the hunger strikes to an end.
The Council deeply regrets the fact that these hunger strikes in various prisons across Turkey continue to lead to the loss of human life. This is a major human tragedy. Therefore, the Council has pressed the Turkish authorities to take suitable steps to avoid further deaths. We have also encouraged Turkey to make changes to the law and take concrete action to follow the recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture. Discussions with the Turkish government are ongoing, particularly within the framework of our deeper political dialogue. Meetings took place in Stockholm on 14 March and in Brussels on 26 April. The coming Association Council with Turkey on 26 June will also cover human rights issues. In addition to these contacts, a dialogue is underway with the Turkish government through the local representatives of the Presidency and Member State representations in Ankara.
Meetings have been held with the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Justice, with the prison situation high on the agenda.
The Council notes with satisfaction that the Turkish government decided at an early stage to co-operate with the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which has visited Turkey three times so far due to the current situation and the hunger strikes. Changes to legislation have entered into force, or will do so shortly, aimed at reducing the isolation of prisoners. It is necessary for these reforms to be generously and correctly applied in practice, in accordance with the recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture.
The Council strongly hopes that these measures now being carried out by the Turkish government will bring the hunger strikes to an end. In this confusing situation, it also feels necessary to appeal to the hunger strikers and their families to react so that no human life is lost. The Council will continue to monitor the development carefully in dialogue with the Turkish government and voluntary organisations.
In this context, the Council would point out that the Accession Partnership for Turkey, which was adopted by the Council in March, contains prison reforms as a priority area which Turkey needs to address to meet the political Copenhagen Criteria."@en1
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