Daily Post (Liverpool)
September 29, 2005, Thursday
EU POSTPONES TURKEY VOTE
THE European Parliament, frustrated over Turkey’s refusal to
recognise Cyprus, postponed a vote yesterday to ratify Turkey’s
customs union with the EU, a requirement of Ankara’s bid for
membership in the 25-member bloc.
Days before the scheduled start of EU membership talks, MEPs also
called on Ankara to recognise the 1915-1923 killings of Armenians as
a genocide, which Turkey vehemently denies.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan immediately dismissed the
non-binding European resolution on the killings of Armenians, saying:
“It does not matter whether they took such a decision or not. We will
continue on our way.”
Armenians say that 1.5 million of their countrymen were killed by
Ottoman Turks.
Turkey denies that the massacres were genocide, saying the death toll
is inflated and Armenians were killed in civil unrest as the Ottoman
Empire collapsed