Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 28 2009

Turkey rapporteur: I am receiving threats from the Armenians

The European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, Ria Oomen-Ruijten, has
said Armenian lobbyists have threatened to destroy her career because
she has refused to refer to the World War I-era killings of Anatolian
Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as "genocide."

The Dutch Christian Democrat, whose report on Turkey was approved with
a record 65 votes against only four votes in opposition and one
abstention in the Committee on Foreign Affairs on Feb. 12, said the
Armenians have told her that they will do their best to prevent her
re-election to the European Parliament.

Oomen-Ruijten, one of the most senior members of the European
Parliament, has been hailed for her balanced reports on Turkey in
recent years. Despite enormous pressure from the Armenian lobby,
Oomen-Ruijten has so far refused to refer to the 1915 events as
"genocide." Her predecessor as the rapporteur on Turkey, Camiel
Eurlings, who was also a Dutch Christian Democrat, was heavily
criticized for being too pro-Armenian and for authoring biased reports
on Turkey. Oomen-Ruijten, who is expected to run for a European
Parliament seat again in June, will defend her report in a plenary
session on March 11. The report is expected to win the approval of the
European Parliament without any major changes.

Speaking Thursday night on "European Desk," a news program on the
STVHaber news channel, Oomen-Ruijten agreed that the Armenian lobby
did not like her much and revealed that the lobby has made it clear
that they will work hard to remove her from the European
Parliament. When asked to comment if these warnings should be seen as
threats, Oomen-Ruijten replied: "Absolutely. Ask my office what sort
of threats I have already received." Vowing that she would work hard
to keep her report as it was, she said: "But I will never step
away. If I am convinced that the document is good for both Turks and
Armenians, then I will keep the report as it is."

Elaborating on what sort of threats she was receiving, she said, "They
vowed that in the next European elections they would do everything in
their power to remove me from the European Parliament."

Stressing that she very much appreciated Turkish President Abdullah
Gül’s visit to Armenia last fall, the first by a president in Turkish
history, and also Foreign Minister Ali Babacan’s efforts for
reconciliation with Yerevan, Oomen-Ruijten added that the
Turkish-Armenian border should be opened, but that the Armenians
living in Europe and the US are not very interested in the opening of
the border.

Joost Lagendijk, co-chairman of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary
Committee, was also on the program. He said he does not receive
threats from the Armenians any more because he is considered a "lost
cause." He said he supported the stance taken by Oomen-Ruijten on the
1915 events. "Looking back on eight years of how the issue has been
handled, I am so happy that we are now out of the trap that we had put
ourselves in. The debate was done around whether someone would call it
genocide or not. It was such a sterile discussion that did not mean
much in terms of present-day relations between Turkey and Armenia,"
Lagendijk said.

Ergenekon: cleansing of dirty history

While stressing that she did not want to get involved in an ongoing
court-case, Oomen-Ruijten said it was absolutely necessary for Turkish
society to clear up the question of Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal
network charged with attempting to overthrow the government. By
strengthening the language of her report’s paragraph on Ergenekon this
year, she said, she wanted to put pressure on the investigation
itself, but also to draw attention to the rights of the defendants.

Lagendijk acknowledged that he was very happy with the latest version
of the paragraph on Ergenekon and said: "Ergenekon is the cleansing of
Turkey’s dirty past, but please play it by the rules and the book. If
you don’t, it will turn against you and all the attention will go to
the procedures."

In this year’s report the paragraph on Ergenekon calls on Turkish
authorities to take the Ergenekon case more seriously, particularly on
the issue of extrajudicial killings and the murder of Armenian-Turkish
journalist Hrant Dink.

‘Baykal should behave in Ankara as he talks in Brussels’

Oomen-Ruijten criticized Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz
Baykal for getting involved in the Ergenekon case and revealed that
she had warned the CHP to be careful with regard to the
investigation. "In my private meetings with CHP members, I tell them
to be careful with the Ergenekon court case and not to get involved
with it. I am coming from another sort of democracy. In my country
politicians would never ever get involved in a judicial process," she
said.

Lagendijk said Baykal’s recent visit to Brussels was very good news,
but stressed that the "nice words" of Baykal in Brussels should be
followed up with "voting" in Ankara. "I hope the nice words of
Mr. Baykal saying they are the only pro-EU party in the country will
be proven true during voting in the Turkish Parliament. Because I
still remember, unfortunately, that it was his party that voted
against a few reforms that were requested by Brussels, such as the
revision of Article 301 [of the Turkish Penal Code] and the Law on
Foundations. I wish I could believe him. I hope I can believe him. The
proof of the pudding is in the eating; in the CHP case it is in their
voting. Their willingness to sit with the government to try and find a
solution for those big parts of the Constitution that should be
revised or changed completely should be put into action."

28 February 2009, Saturday
TODAY’S ZAMAN BRUSSELS