euobserver.com
23.09.2005 – 17:42 CET
By Mark Beunderman

Brussels clashes with Turks on free speech and Cyprus

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Harsh words were fired from Brussels on Friday as
the commission reacted strongly to a Turkish court’s suspension of a
conference on the Armenian massacre. Meanwhile Turkey has slammed an EU
counter declaration on Cyprus.

The decision yesterday (22 September) by an Istanbul court to cancel a
conference on the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman empire in 1915,
sparked a commission spokeswoman to speak of “yet another provocation”.

The term “provocation” was also used last week by enlargement commissioner
Olli Rehn when criticising a separate Turkish court decision on the filing
of charges against the author Orhan Pamuk – who had also raised the Armenian
issue.

Both the Turkish prime minister and the Turkish foreign minister were quick
to condemn Istanbul’s court decision to cancel the conference.

“To prevent a meeting which has not yet happened and where it is not clear
what is to be discussed has got nothing to do with democracy”, prime
minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul referred to the scheduled opening of accession
talks by Ankara in just over a week (3 October), by saying “There is no one
better than us when it comes to harming ourselves”.

Until recently it was illegal in Turkey to publicly talk about the tabu
topic of the massacre of the Armenians, which most international historians
have classified as genocide.

The new penal code which Ankara had to adopt following pressure from
Brussels ended this restriction on free speech.

But prosecutors in Turkey are still repressing debate on the Armenian
massacre under the reformed penal code.

The commission signalled on Friday that the “provocations” by Turkish
prosecutors will not interfere with Ankara’s bid to start entry talks on 3
October.

But the commission will raise the issue in a “progress report” on Turkey,
due in November.

Turkey blasts counter declaration
The atmosphere between Brussels and Ankara was already tense on Thursday, as
the Turkish foreign ministry rebuked the EU for issuing a “counter
statement” earlier this week in response to Ankara’s refusal to recognise
Cyprus.

The EU in its counter declaration stated that “recognition of all member
states is a necessary component of the accession process” – meaning that
Ankara should recognise Nicosia before Turkey can itself enter the bloc.

According to press reports, a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman said “we
regret the counter-declaration that the EU issued on September 21”.

“This declaration contains some unfair approaches and some new elements that
do not conform to the traditional spirit of cooperation that has been
continuing between Turkey and the EU for more than 40 years”, he stated.

The spokesman added that the statement ignored the “rights and expectations
of the Turkish Cypriot people” which he termed as a “serious injustice”.

Turkey says the EU should end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots in the
North of the island as quickly as possible.

A commission proposal to open trade with the North, linked to a financial
aid package, is being blocked by the Cypriot government.

Direct trade with the north of the island would, in Nicosia’s view, mean the
de facto recognition of the North as a separate state.

Abdullah Gul said “There is no one better than us when it comes to harming
ourselves”