VATICAN HESITATES OVER TURKEY’S MEMBERSHIP TO EU

Azg/arm
7 Dec 04

Vatican hasn’t made an official statement about Turkey’s membership to
EU but, according to archbishop Giovanni Lacholo, some leaders of the
Catholic Church state that Europe should include “the whole territory
stretching from the Atlantic ocean to the Urals, The Armenian Mirror
Spectator, weekly informed, referring to the news received from
Vatican through Internet.

Vatican External Relations’ official stated in La Stampa newspaper
that in case Turkey enters the European Union, the government of that
country will have to meet all the political criteria that are met in
all the other countries, including freedom of religion and belief. And
this guarantee “should not only be fixed in the constitution and the
legislation, but also protected in the social sphere,” archbishop
added. He emphasized that the Catholic Holly See doesn’t fear from
the enlargement of Europe and supported the applications of many
Easter European countries. “The guarantee that the new Europe will
be deeply united and interconnected should be a decisive factor,” he
said advising the European leaders to pay attention to those European
countries that have already expressed will to join the EU. He included
Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia in the list
of the abovementioned countries. “These countries keep in line with
the European cultural traditions,” he underscored.

By Hakob Tsulikian

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress