LINDEN: "THE ARMENIA ISSUE CANNOT BE A PRECONDITION"

Turkish Press
Star
Oct 3 2006

Rene Van der Linden, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe (PACE), said yesterday that Armenian issue could
not be a precondition for Turkey’s European Union membership.

Criticizing French President Jacques Chirac’s recent remarks that
Turkey should recognize so-called Armenian genocide in order to access
the EU, Linden said that his statements were political.

Stressing that the remarks had been made as Turkey was implementing
a number of reforms and had kept its promises to the bloc, the
president said that new conditions could not be put before Ankara
as it implemented the others. The EU and the Council of Europe are
separate institutions.