“IF TURKEY WERE EUROPEAN WE WOULD KNOW IT” LEADER OF FORMER FRENCH
RULING PARTY CONSIDERS

PanArmenian News
Dec 20 2004

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Supporters of the Northern League Party in Italy
took to the streets to protest at the decision. According to media
reports, they unfurled banners saying, “yes to Christian roots”.
Nicolas Sarkozy, former Finance Minister and “rising star of French
politics”, renewed his call for a “privileged partnership” with Turkey,
rather than full membership. Mr Sarkozy, who hopes to take over from
Jacques Chirac as French President in 2007, said, “If Turkey were
European, we would know it. I’m for a privileged partnership but I’m
reserved about membership, like a large number of notable voices”,
Richard Carter, EU Observer reporter, writes in his article dedicated
to the reaction to EU’s decision in some European countries. Austrian
Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel announced that his country would join
France in holding a referendum on Turkey’s accession, adding another
potential obstacle in Ankara’s path. This decision was criticized by
Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot who said, “we have never said to
the Turks, neither in 1999 nor in 2002, that a referendum would lie at
the end of the process. We have to be fair”. And Swedish daily Dagens
Nyheter reports that the Kurdish minority in Turkey are disappointed
because their hopes to have their language recognized were not raised
as a issue. Of the 70 million people in Turkey, 20 million are Kurds.