The Independent (UK)
Armenian rebuke deals blow to Turks’ EU ambition
By Stephen Castle in Brussels
Published: 24 September 2005
Turkey received a direct rebuke from the European Commission yesterday
after a court ruling prompted the cancellation of a conference of
historians to discuss the massacre of Armenians early in the last century.
Coming just 10 days before Ankara is due to open EU membership
negotiations the judgement prompted an unusually blunt condemnation from
the Commission, which described it as “yet another provocation”.
Last night efforts were under way to salvage the conference and bypass
the legal ruling by holding it today at a new location.
But the judgement, which was condemned by the Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, is a reminder of how far Turkey still needs to travel to
guarantee freedom of expression.
Evidence of the power of the conservatives in Turkish society is likely
to embolden critics of the country’s EU membership bid. However Ankara’s
supporters say that internal reforms will only continue if Turkey is
given the prospect of joining the bloc.
The row is unlikely to derail plans to start EU membership negotiations
on 3 October in Luxembourg. The two leading sceptics over Turkey’s EU
membership, France and Cyprus, have been placated by language in a
declaration stating that Ankara must recognise Cyprus before it joins
the EU. Austria is isolated in its efforts to inject a new pledge that
the negotiations could lead to a “privileged partnership” instead of
full membership.
But the European Commission’s spokeswoman for enlargement, Krisztina
Nagy, said: “We strongly deplore this new attempt to prevent Turkish
society from freely discussing its history. The timing of this decision
the day before the opening of the conference looks like yet another
provocation.” She said the cancellation “illustrates the difficulties of
Turkey, and in particular of the judiciary, to ensure effective and
uniform implementation of the reforms”. The killing of Armenians during
the collapse of the Ottoman Empire remains a sensitive issue. A number
of countries have recognised the massacres as genocide though that
description is flatly rejected by Turkey.
The furore comes after a legal case against one of Turkey’s most
acclaimed writers, Orhan Pamuk who has been charged with insulting the
country’s national character. The trial, arising out of comments made on
Turkey’s killing of Armenians and Kurds, could lead to a prison sentence
of up to three years.
The conference, which had already been postponed once, was scheduled to
be held at Bogazici University. Aydin Ugur, president of Istanbul Bilgi
University, said the gathering would take place this morning at Bilgi.
He said the court’s order was directed at two other universities, and
had “nothing to do with Bilgi”. But Laurent Leylekian, executive
director of the European Armenian Federation, said: “We would be
surprised if this kind of conference takes place in Turkey. There is no
will in the government to open the Armenian file because this issues is
deeply linked with the founding of the Turkish republic.”
One EU diplomat described the ruling as “stupid” but added: “It is not
going to cause a problem between now and 3 October. The EU has been very
ready to criticise but not so ready to come through with its
commitments.” The Commission said it would note the issue in its annual
report on candidate countries which is used as a yardstick of the
membership preparation.
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