EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT REPORT NOT OBJECTIVE, SAYS TURKEY

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Aug 5 2006

The report said there had been a slowing of the pace of enacting
reforms required as part of Turkey’s EU membership bid.

Guncelleme: 21:36 TSÝ 05 Eylul 2006 SalýANKARA – The report handed
down by the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Turkey’s
progress in meeting the membership criteria of the European Union was
not objective and did not deal with the relevant issues, a Turkish
Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

However, Turkey expected some of the more controversial and
questionable statements in the report, which was approved by the
EP’s Foreign Affairs Committee late Monday, to be removed from the
final document to be voted on by the parliament on September 28,
Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan said.

"It is obvious that the report focused on issues which has nothing to
do with common sense and objectivity," Tan told a press conference
in Ankara. "We hope that those points will be addressed before the
vote in the General Assembly at the end of this month."

Tan said that a number of issues raised in the report, such as the
so-called Armenian genocide, were included due to political impulses
and did not reflect reality.

"We hope members of the European Parliament will demonstrate common
sense to fix this situation during general assembly meeting," he said.

–Boundary_(ID_fi5yM0LV+IATflFH+Na0WQ)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress