EUobserver
Vatican signals support for Turkey EU bid
31.05.2007 – 09:32 CET | By Lucia Kubosova

The Vatican has indicated it supports Turkish EU accession and acknowledged
Ankara’s progress toward democracy at a time when clouds of doubt are
gathering over Turkey enlargement inside the EU itself.

In an interview with Italian daily La Stampa, published on Wednesday (30
May), the Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said that if
"fundamental rules of cohabitation" are respected, building together a
common future is possible "also with [Turkey’s] entry in Europe."

"Turkey has come a long way and is still progressing. I mean there are
evolutions. There are obviously very different positions. But it is possible
to build a mutual dialogue within a framework of individuals, populations
and governments who respect the fundamental rules of living together," he
said.

The comments represent a shift in the Vatican’s position, which had
previously opposed Turkey’s EU entry on the basis the country’s cultural
roots are too different from those of mainland Europe.

Cardinal Bertone made his comments shortly before the world’s leading
Orthodox prelate, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople,
spoke out against the discrimination of Christians in Turkey, Italian media
say.

Religious minorities in the overwhelmingly Muslim country have developed
high hopes that religious freedoms would increase under EU pressure as
Turkey went through long negotiations to join the European Union club.

But in April three Christian publishers were murdered by radicals while a
Cyprus-related freeze on EU accession talks and the advent of French
president Sarkozy – who opposes Turkey’s EU entry – have seen Brussels’
pro-reform influence wane.

The Vatican itself does not have a clear record in its position on Turkey’s
possible EU membership.

Prior to his selection as Pope Benedict XVI, German Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger expressed concerns over the prospect, suggesting that,
historically, Turkey has never been part of Europe.

During his trip to Turkey last November, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan suggested that the Pope told him in a private conversation that he
did support Ankara’s EU membership, however.

At the time, Vatican officials did not directly confirm the reports but
admitted that they view the country’s European path "favourably."