Controversial EP Report on Turkey Faces Voting Next Week
By Cihan News Agency

Zaman, Turkey
Sept 22 2006

Friday, September 22, 2006
zaman.com

The controversial report on Turkey prepared by Dutch rapporteur Camiel
Eurlings will be discussed and voted on in the European Parliament
(EP) General Assembly next week.

The draft report on Turkey’s progress towards accession to the EU and
the reforms is to be discussed in the European parliament on Tuesday.

The provision, making the recognition of so-called Armenian, Pontus
Greek and Syriac genocides a precondition for Turkey’s EU membership,
is expected to be removed from the draft with motions. Certain
amendments are also expected to be made on the Cyprus issue in favor
of Turkey, a diplomatic source said.

The report will be discussed on Tuesday afternoon and the European
Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn will attend the meeting. The
voting of the report is to take place on Wednesday.

Earlier this month, the EP Foreign Affairs Committee approved Camiel
Eurlings’ report on Turkey. The report called on Turkey to recognize
the alleged killing of Armenians during WWI as genocide and to open
its ports to Greek Cypriot traffic.

The Turkish foreign ministry rejected the report, saying that it
lacked common sense and smacked of political bias.

The draft report insists that there are persistent shortcomings in
areas such as freedom of expression, religious, minority and women’s
rights in Turkey.