Federation of Armenian Organizations in The Netherlands
24 April Committee
For Recognition and Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide of 1915
Address: Weesperstraat 91
2574 VS The Hague, The Netherlands
Telephone: +31704490209
Website:
Email: info@faon.nl
Contact: M. Hakhverdian

PRESS RELEASE

6 December 2007

The Netherlands more critical about Turkey than European Commission

Minister Verhagen: A country wishing to join the EU should have faced its
history

The Hague 6 December 2007. The Dutch parliament agrees with Foreign Minister
Verhagen and Secretary of State for European Affairs Timmermans who have
taken a more critical position than the European Commission on the issue of
progress of reforms in Turkey. This can be stated as the outcome of the
debate today, where among others the EC Turkey 2007 Progress Report was on
the agenda in preparation of the EU Top on 14 December. The Federation of
Armenian Organisations in the Netherlands (FAON) had previously sent a
letter to the parliament, reporting on several issues such as Article 301 of
Turkish Penal Code, freedom of religion, rights of minorities, and blatant
denial of the Armenian genocide by the Turkish authorities.

In a letter to the parliament, the Dutch government subscribed to the
critical remarks of the European Commission, but on a number of points they
chose a stricter position than the Commission. According to the Netherlands
more emphasis should be put on the juridical system; moreover, the
Netherlands has a less positive opinion on freedom of religion, pointing to
the ongoing threats towards members of religious minorities. These obstacles
should be lifted "as soon as possible."

There have been more persecutions this year, among others because of the
Armenian issue. Therefore, on freedom of speech, the Commission states that
Article 301 and others should be put in line with the European Convention on
Human Rights. The Netherlands demands the modification of the Penal Code to
be "on a short term," thus going further than the Commission.

Several political parties referred to the recent research under Turkish
magistrates who have put the state’s interest above individual human rights
and of whom only 16% is in favour of scrapping Article 301. .

Several parties raised the Armenian Genocide, mostly in connection with the
lack of freedom to discuss it in Turkey. Most prominently, it was the
Christian Union faction that expressed its opinion on this. The spokesperson
of the Christian Union, Mrs Wiegmans, called the denial of the Armenian
Genocide one of the key problems in Turkey. One cannot be certain of one’s
life when one speaks about it, especially for aTurkish citizen of Armenian
origine. She said that it is a disgrace for the European Union to continue
negotiations under these circumstances. Is the motion of Rouvoet of 2004,
which asks to continuously and explicitly address the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide within the negotiation process with Turkey, still being
carried out? Her signal is that the continuous denial of the Armenian
Genocide by Turkey should have consequences for the negotiations. She also
referred to the signal her party gave by initiating a law to penalise
genocide denial.

In response, Minister Verhagen indicated that the shortcomings of Turkey in
the field of the political criteria are severe, not only for Turkey itself,
but also for the public support for Turkey within Europe. The Minister as
well as the Secretary of State stressed that reforms and negotiations will
take a very long process of which the outcome, different from before, is not
certain in advance. The Netherlands and Europe will stick to agreements made
with Turkey and Turkey should do the same. Within this context the minister
indicated that no new criteria can be added, by which he meant the remarks
made by the Christian Union on the Armenian Genocide. What is relevant for
the negotiations is whether the issue of the Armenian Genocide can be raised
in Turkey or not, but the recognition of it is not one of the preconditions
in the process. It should however be the case, at least according to the
Minister, that if a country wants to join the EU, it should face its
history.

Secretary of State Timmermans mentioned in his speech that the "Kemalist
view of the world" in Turkey should be abandoned in order for Turkey to
become a democratic constitutional state.