Journal of Turkish Weekly
April 12 2005
Turkish PM Erdogan: EU is not a Christian Club
THE WEST SHOULD BE FAIR
OSLO – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said ”we regret
to see negative attitudes against Turkish and Muslim people in some
European countries recently. It is impossible to understand such
attitudes against Turks and Muslims in a period when the world
focuses on dialogue among different civilizations and cultures.”
Prime Minister Erdogan, who is currently paying a state visit to
Norway, met Turkish citizens at the Oslo Military Museum Meeting
Hall. Turkish PM said the West abused the Kurdish issue in Turkey for
the years and the West did not make distinction between terrorism and
ethnic and democratic demands.
Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Erdogan said, ”we saw
similar attitudes before December 17th. However, we overcame them.
The EU is not a Christian club. It is the outcome of compromise among
civilizations. The EU is a whole of political values.”
`The PKK and the Kurdish people are the different things. Kurds are
my citizens. PKK is a terrorist organization. But the West abuse the
problems. We are against any nationalism based solely on regional,
racist or religious discrimination. We will not allow those who want
to separate our country’ added PM Erdogan.
CYPRUS NEEDS A FAIR SOLUTION
Replying to a question about the Cyprus question, Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan said, ”the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)
has been exposed to international isolation for years. Any country,
except for Turkey, does not recognize the TRNC. Our government has
been expending great efforts to find a fair and lasting solution to
the Cyprus issue. 65 percent of Turkish Cypriot people supported the
plan of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in the referendum
on April 24th, 2004. They displayed their will for a solution.”
While the Turkish Cypriots supported the UN Peace Plan, the Greek
side rejected. The US and the EU promised to end isolation of the
Turkish Cypriots if the Turks approved the UN Plan. However both have
done very little to end the isolation.
ARMENIAN ISSUE AND NEED FOR A `FAIR WEST’
Upon a question about the allegations of so-called Armenian genocide,
Prime Minister Erdogan said, ”our parliament will hold a special
session on April 13th to debate the Armenian issue. A statement will
be signed by 550 MPs at the end of the session. It will be sent to
parliaments of several countries including Britain… ‘We have been
advocating since the very beginning that a peaceful world cannot be
established on hatred and enmity. We have opened our air corridor
with Armenia. Unfortunately, our western allies take some decisions
about Turkey on ground of baseless comments of marginal groups. It is
seriously unfair. For instance, students held demonstrations in
France and in the other European countries. Police used force to
disperse demonstrators and beat some of them. None of these events in
Europe are mentioned and criticized. However, they criticize any
similar event in Turkey. In fact, we never allow any attempt in
support of terrorist organizations. Also, we never admit such support
as human rights since we have suffered much from terrorism. Our first
priority is the safety of our people.”
Armenia does not recognize Turkey’s territorial integrity and
Tashnaks who are influential over the Armenian Government claims that
many Turkish provinces are historical Armenia. Even some Armenian
party leaders declare that Armenians will fight to get the eastern
part of Turkey. Armenian forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan and
the Armenian irredentist movements are increasing against Georgia.
Turkish Prime Minister and Parliament called the Armenian side to
discuss all the issues, including the 1915 Resettlement Campaign.
However the Armenian Foreign Minister Hovanisyan rejected the call,
saying `there is nothing to be discussed’.
Erdogan said in Oslo `We open all archives and we expect the same
thing from the Armenian side. All should come and see the reality’.
Source: Turkish newspapers and news agencies