BBC News
Dec 14 2004
European Press Review
Europe’s Turkish challenge
The French newspaper Le Figaro comments on France’s decision to ask
Ankara to admit that the killing of hundreds of thousands of
Armenians during World War I amounted to genocide.
“The French authorities are trying to give assurances to French
public opinion and the elected representatives … who are hostile to
Turkey joining the European Union.”
Noting that the request will be put to Turkey during membership
talks, the paper says France has “never before established such a
clear link” between the Armenian deaths and talks on Turkey’s
membership of the EU.
The paper recalls that French-Turkish ties were strained in 2001 when
France termed the killings “genocide”.
“By demanding that Ankara recognises the Armenian tragedy of 1915,
Paris risks reopening an old wound,” the paper warns.
Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten is more concerned about Turkey’s neighbour,
Cyprus.
In calling for improved relations on the island at a crucial moment
for Turkey, Cyprus is “obviously attempting to take Turkey hostage in
an attempt to have a Cyprus solution imposed without contributing
anything itself,” the paper believes.
“The precarious situation shows that it was a major mistake to allow
the Republic of Cyprus into the EU as long as the problem of the
divided Mediterranean island had not been solved.”
For Sweden’s Expressen, “old Europe” fears that Turkish membership
will scupper European integration are misplaced.
“The EU is above all a peace project”, it explains.
“Turkey offers an opportunity to tear down the wall of the 21st
Century – the one between the West and the Muslim world”.