PRO-TURKEY FORCES PRESS EURO PARLIAMENT TO RETREAT FROM ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE

Financial Mirror, Cyprus
Sept 4 2006

BRUSSELS – The European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs is
scheduled on Monday to consider a draft report on Turkey prepared by
Dutch MEP Camiel Eurlings (EPP). Over the past two months, pro-Turkish
forces with European institutions have sought to ignore or marginalize
more than 340 amendments, mostly critical of Turkey, that have been
offered to the measure.

The draft prepared by Eurling deals with the Armenian Genocide in a
vaguely worded paragraph that calls upon the Parliament to "takes
note of the proposal by Turkey to establish a bilateral committee
of experts in order to overcome the tragic experience of the past,
and the position of Armenia regarding that proposal" and "urges both
the Turkish government and the Armenian government to continue their
process of reconciliation leading to a mutually acceptable resolution.

"This formulation, which is patterned after the outright denial
position of the Turkish government, represents a retreat from the
Parliament’s traditional posture of calling on Turkey to properly
acknowledge this crime against humanity. This proposed dramatic shift
in position prompted a broad range of MEPs to offer amendments to
this measure," said the European Armenian Federation.

With regard to Turkey’s blockade of Armenia, the draft report "urges
Turkey to take the necessary steps, without any preconditions, to
establish diplomatic and good neighbourly relations with Armenia
and to open the land border at an early date, in accordance with the
resolutions adopted by Parliament between 1987 and 2005."

Rather than recognizing that the large number of amendments reflect
broad-based dissatisfaction with the draft’s pro-Turkey bias, the
Rapporteur and political party leaders chose to propose their own
set of proposed "compromise" changes, the Federation added.

These proposals largely ignore the vast majority of the amendments.

The managers of this process, in the place of allowing MEPs to weight
the merits of the amendments, have chosen instead to reduce these
concerns to a series of weak and basically ineffectual measures.

Collectively, the "compromise" proposals that have more in common
with Turkish government’s position than the standing policy of the
European Parliament.

"The draft and the changes being put forward by the Rapporteur don’t
represent a compromise, but rather a profound retreat from the European
Parliament’s principled position," declared the Chairperson of the
European Armenian Federation, Hilda Tchoboian.

The European Armenian Federation encourages Members of the Committee on
Foreign Affairs to exercise their right to vote on the duly offered
amendments urging Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide as a
precondition for joining the European Union. The Federation also
calls upon MEPs to vote for amendments calling upon the Commission
to include in the Ankara Roadmap framework the necessity that Turkey
recognizes the Armenian Genocide and lifts its blockade of Armenia.

"On these vital issues, Members of the European Parliament understand
that the false compromises being put forward would both undermine the
EU’s values as well as its security interests. A retreat from principle
will not encourage progress by Turkey, but rather be interpreted as
a sign of weakness that will only embolden the Turkish leadership
in its implementation of ultra-nationalistic policies," concluded
Hilda Tchoboian.