European Parliament calls for start of full entry talks with Turkey
NTV television, Istanbul
15 Dec 04
[Presenter] The European Parliament sent a strong message to the EU
leaders ahead of tomorrow’s [16 December] historic summit, calling for
the commencement of the full membership negotiations with Turkey
without delay. Kayhan Karaca followed the voting in Strasbourg. Kayhan
we are listening to you.
[Correspondent] Just a few seconds ago, the European Parliament took a
historic decision and, for the first time, it cleared the way for the
membership talks with Turkey and Turkey’s membership prospect. As we
all watched together, the Christian Democrats tried until the very end
to block Turkey’s path and give Turkey a special status in place of
membership. They even wanted and secured secret voting on it. But all
that effort was rejected at the general assembly of the parliament.
The parliament took a decision and called on the EU leaders to
commence the membership talks with Turkey in 2005 without delay. This
is a very important decision, and it would definitely impact the
meeting of the European leaders who are to gather tomorrow evening to
discuss Turkey. Joseph Borrell, head of the European Parliament, will
personally explain the European Parliament’s decision just adopted in
Strasbourg to the EU leaders in Brussels tomorrow at the start of the
summit.
In the voting held a while ago, the Christian Democrats put two
amendments to the secret voting. In one, they wanted giving a special
status to Turkey. This motion was rejected by a vote of 415 to
259. Another amendment, and a tougher one, called for the rejection of
the Turkish membership. It too was rejected by a majority of votes.
On the other hand, the European Parliament adopted a motion submitted
by the Communist Group on the Armenian genocide. Accordingly, an
article was added to the report at the last moment calling on the
Armenian and Turkish peoples to [examine] the issue of genocide. All
the amendment motions submitted by the Greek parliamentarians on the
Cyprus and Aegean issues were rejected. But, a motion proposed by
[name indistinct], a member of the NDP [New Democracy] and Christian
Democratic Group, on the ecumenical status of the Greek Patriarchate
was endorsed. But all these are secondary issues now. Presently, the
parliament has really put its imprint on the 16-17 [December]
summit. This was expected, but we went through a tense period due to
the Christian Democrats’ amendment motions. The European Parliament
adopted a historic decision, and most probably the EU leaders will
adopt a similar decision on Turkey tomorrow evening or on Friday.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress