Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-13-Speech-1-147"
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"en.20041213.10.1-147"2
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"Mr President, what is the purpose of the vote on 15 December on this report concerning Turkey? It is not a matter of rewarding the rapporteur, although he merits my highest esteem. Nor is it a contest between two teams: the unwavering supporters of Turkish accession and those who say that there must be an alternative to full accession and already have one in mind and want to put a name to it. In such a contest, both teams are always liable to score an own goal.
Nor is it a matter of simply echoing the shouts of the crowd in the stands, since these are largely fuelled by emotion. It is quite simply the last opportunity of the European Parliament to convey a final message to the Heads of Government in the Council before they take their decision on the start of negotiations with Turkey and to make their decision as difficult as possible.
The point is that the unquestioned desire of the Erdogan Government to enact reforms contrasts with the reality of social conditions in Turkey, resulting in part from political conflicts, whether in connection with the Armenian or the Kurdish problem, and these conditions are incompatible with our objectives and criteria. It is no coincidence that Kurdish representatives in Paris have chosen this precise moment to demand autonomy for the Kurdish areas in south-eastern Anatolia. The very prospect of negotiations being launched and of possible Turkish accession to the EU, in other words, could actually fuel the conflict between Turks and Kurds instead of defusing it.
By shifting its frontiers to Iran, Iraq, Syria and the Caucasus, the EU would forfeit the
that has always separated it from some of the world’s most dangerous trouble spots. This is something else the Council must consider.
The Turkish leaders’ accusation that the EU is imposing special conditions on Turkey for the negotiation process must give us pause for thought too, because it is not the EU that is applying to accede to the Republic of Turkey – quite the reverse. The atmosphere on the eve of the decision on accession talks could not be worse. A process culminating automatically in accession without any other options would be damaging to both the EU and Turkey itself. We parliamentarians should take the opportunity to put this message across clearly before 17 December because, should full accession prove unattainable, there must be other means of integrating Turkey into European structures."@en1
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