TURKEY NOT READY FOR EU

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.07.2006 17:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Following an attack on a French Catholic priest in
Samsun on Sunday, a top Vatican official said yesterday that Turkey
shouldn’t become a member of the European Union until freedom of
religion is guaranteed. Speaking to Italian daily Corriere de la
Sera, Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Vatican’s department
for Christian Unity, said, "We believe that Turkey isn’t ready to
integrate with Europe. If it were a truly secular state, it would be
able to guarantee freedom of religion. Right now the atmosphere in the
country is very tense and hostile towards minorities." Charging that
freedom of religion in Turkey is restricted by radical nationalism
and fundamentalism, Kasper added he doesn’t think attacks on members
of the clergy and missionaries are personal. Kasper also said that
as freedom of religion isn’t guaranteed, Turkey isn’t ready to join
the EU, reported Yerkir.