The New Anatolian, Turkey
April 27 2005

Ankara Protocol Dominates Gul’s Meeting with EU Officials

The Turkish-European Union Partnership Council met Tuesday in
Luxembourg. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul represented Turkey
at the meeting.

The main issue discussed during the meeting was the implementation of
the Ankara Protocol to expand Turkey’s EU customs agreement to
include the EU’s 10 new member states, including the Greek Cypriot
administration.

The 25-nation EU is to review Ankara’s progress in enforcing
widespread reforms that it wants completed before Turkey starts its
EU entry talks this October.

EU leaders made the signing of the protocol a precondition for
beginning entry talks, making clear that signing it gives no
guarantee of eventual membership. Besides signing the Ankara
Protocol, reforming the judicial system and implementing minority
rights are the other conditions Ankara must meet before beginning
accession talks.

Turkey and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn have argued that the
protocol does not involve Turkey formally recognizing the Greek
Cypriot administration, but it is simply the extension of a customs
union to the 10 new member states which joined last year. Cyprus
remains divided between the southerly situated Greek Cypriots and the
Turkish Cypriots to the north. Only the Greek Cypriot part of the
island acceded to the EU last year. Greek Cypriots rejected a United
Nations reunification plan in a referendum just before joining the
EU. Turkish Cypriots voted overwhelmingly in favor of it.

Foreign Minister Gul said that the membership of one side of Cyprus
to the EU did not mean the end of the island’s problems. “We could
not forget the Cyprus problem when just one side of the island
entered the EU,” Gul said during a press conference with EU Term
President Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn and EU
Commissioner Rehn. “The center of a solution to the Cyprus problem is
the UN,” Gul added.

Asselborn said that the EU did not want to lead Turkey by the hand
during its membership process, but rather to play the role of an
“instructor.”

Rehn, on the other hand, praised the quick reform process now going
on in Turkey. Underlining the EU’s expectation that the new Turkish
Penal Code (TCK) is put into effect as scheduled on June 1, Rehn said
that they want to see progress also in women’s rights, cultural
rights and judicial reforms.

French surprise for Turkey

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Monday that France
expects a long negotiating process for Turkey’s EU membership, and
reiterated that they would bring up the touchy issue of Turkey’s
recognizing the so-called Armenian genocide during the negotiations.
“We will pose this question and we want a response,” Barnier said.
“The European project is one of reconciliation,” he added.

Earlier this month, the Turkish government called on Armenia to from
a joint research team to study the killings. Armenia accuses Turkey
of genocide in the killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians as part of
a campaign to force them out of eastern Turkey during World War I.
Ankara denies these accusations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress