EUobserver.com, Belgium
May 3 2005

Schröder urges Turks to change mentality

03.05.2005 – 09:50 CET | By Lisbeth Kirk

On the eve of a visit to Turkey, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder
has urged the Ankara government to continue its EU accession-related
reform process.

In an interview with Turkish daily Milliyet on Monday (2 May), the
Chancellor also urged Turkish citizens to change their mentality.

“A change of mentality is necessary”, he said adding that while this
would not be possible over night, it is unavoidable so that the shift
would be taken on by everyone in their everyday lives.

“The negotiations themselves are certain to be long and difficult”,
he added. “Reforms must continue and it must be made certain they
can not be reversed”.

This is particularly important concerning basic democratic rights,
minority rights and human rights, he explained.

Five months to Turkey talks EU leaders decided in December last year
to open negotiations with Turkey on 3 October 2005, which is now just
five months down the road.

But some sectors of public opinion in EU member states remain hostile
to accepting the 70 million mainly Muslim Turks into the Union.

Mr Schröder’s talks with President Ahmed Sezer and Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara will also touch upon the Armenian issue.

In the newspaper interview, the German Chancellor welcomed an
initiative by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to allow
an unbiased historical study of Armenian claims that their people
suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turkish troops around 90
years ago.

“The proposal of Prime Minister Erdogan is pointing in the right
direction”, Mr Schröder said.

Stop over in Sarajevo Before visiting Turkey, Mr Schröder is set to
stop over in Sarajevo today (3 May) to visit German soldiers serving
in the European Union Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The German army, Bundeswehr, has contributed the most soldiers to the
operation, which in total has 7,000 troops from 22 EU member states
and eleven non-EU countries, according to Spiegel Online.

The EU took over responsibility from NATO for Operation Althea,
the Bosnian peacekeeping mission in December last year.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is set to start negotiations on a Stability
and Association Agreement (SAA), the first step on the road to EU
membership, by the end of this year.

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