EAFJD HAS RELEASED A REPORT ON THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT’S LAST LEGISLATURE
PanARMENIAN.Net/
02.06.2009 16:09 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the run-up to this week’s European Parliament
elections, The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy
(EAFJD) has released a report on the European Parliament’s last
legislature between 2004 and 2009, which, it said, "enlightens
the positions adopted by the various political groups on the
issues relating to foreign affairs, such as Turkey’s accession,
the European Neighborhood Policy, the relations between the European
Union and Armenia [and] the destruction by Azerbaijan of the Armenian
cultural heritage." The 19-page report accused some MEPs of acting as a
"lobbyists" in favor of Turkey, while praising the European United Left
Group (GUE) — known to be close to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK) — calling it "the most coherent group," in regards
to Turkey’s EU accession issue. The European Green Party "started
defending the Turkish immigrants from discrimination and progressively
moved to the unconditional support of the Turkish accession by the
dissimulation of the justified obstacles which impedes the accession
process. Consequently, it constitutes today a real [Turkish] lobby
within the European Parliament," the report states.
"The GUE has the most coherent position, which is in favor of Turkish
accession by principle and at the same time it firmly expresses the
preliminary demand of respect for European values, among which is the
recognition of the genocide," it says. The European People’s Party
(EPP) got its share of harsh criticism from the EAFJD, particularly
due to the stance of its member Ria Oomen-Ruijten of the Netherlands
who has acted as the rapporteur for Turkey for the last two years.
"The position of the EPP group got considerably worse, in particular
under the influence of Mrs. Ria Oomen-Ruijten, which showed a singular
leniency towards Ankara in general and was resolutely hostile to
any clear mention of the Armenian issue in particular. Mrs. Ria
Oomen-Ruijten notably said publicly offensive remarks about the
Armenians on several occasions. Her attitude pleased some EPP members
who continuously supported the idea of Turkey’s accession and who
always showed reluctance to mention the Armenian Genocide."