TURKEY STRONGLY REJECTS EP REPORT
By Cihan News Agency

Zaman Online, Turkey
Aug 5 2006

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it strongly rejected
the European parliament report compiled by Dutch legislator Camiel
Eurlings, saying it was incompatible with the prestige and gravity
of the European parliament.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan said that the controversial
report would not contribute to the improvement of ties between Turkey
and European Union. "The report lacks commonsense and objectivity."

The European parliament report, which was compiled by Dutch legislator
Camiel Eurlings and was adopted by the European parliament’s foreign
affairs committee on Monday, harshly criticized Turkey for its slow
pace of reform on rights, freedom of expression and relations with
Greek Cyprus.

"Turkey was deeply saddened with the stance of the European parliament
regarding the so-called Armenian genocide claims," Tan said.

Spokesman Tan said that the European lawmakers should act with
consideration and amend the draft report.

The report complains that the pace of the reforms slowed in 2005 and
the implementation of reforms still remains uneven, underlining that
significant further efforts are required in regard to fundamental
freedoms and human rights, in particular freedom of expression,
women’s rights, religious freedoms, trade union rights and cultural
rights, and the further strengthening of the fight against torture
and ill-treatment.
From: Baghdasarian