SLOVAK PARTIES DIVIDED OVER TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP
by Igor Stupnan
Sme, Bratislava, Slovakia
Dec 1 2006
"Even Pope does not change KDH’s opinion on Turkey"
Even the Pope’s visit to Turkey and his words that Ankara should
enter the European Union have not changed the opinion of Hrusovsky’s
Christian Democratic Movement [KDH] and Slota’s Slovak National Party
[SNS]. They still reject the admission of Muslim Turkey to the EU.
Other parliamentary parties say that if Turkey meets the criteria
for entry, there is no reason to prevent its integration.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after the meeting
with Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday [28 November] that the head of the
Catholic Church wanted his country to enter the EU. The Vatican did
not refute the prime minister’s statement, but its spokesman was
more cautious and explained that the Pope did not have any power
to influence Europe’s decision to admit Turkey, but he supported
Turkey’s integration.
KDH leader Pavol Hrusovsky says that he does not have enough
information on whether the Pope said that he wanted Turkey in the EU.
According to Hrusovsky, someone has just "understood" his words,
taken out of context, in this way. The KDH sticks to the opinion,
which has also been recommended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
that Turkey should become a privileged partner of the EU.
The KDH would not change its opinion even if it heard the Pope clearly
say that Turkey should enter the EU. "Our political standpoint does
not have to change along with the Holy Father’s opinion. The Holy
Father is representing the church, while I am representing a political
party, and these opinions do not have to be identical at all times,"
said Hrusovsky.
Rafael Rafaj, chairman of the SNS deputies’ club, said that Turkey
had a serious deficit in democracy and European traditions, which
is why it would be premature to speak about its entry. Rafaj thinks
that "zero tolerance" should also apply to privileged partnership,
because if the door is only slightly opened for someone, it will
never be closed again.
Prime Minister and Direction [Smer] leader Robert Fico supports EU
enlargement by countries that are prepared for it. "For me, it is not
decisive at all what religion a country is practising. Sometimes I
have a feeling that this is currently a decisive topic that influences
some countries’ behaviour."
Movement for a Democratic Slovakia [HZDS] deputy Zdenka Kramplova said
that the set criteria were decisive for entry. However, she does not
think that Turkey will meet these criteria sooner than in 20 years.
Gyula Bardos, head of the Hungarian Coalition Party [SMK; MKP in
Hungarian] deputies’ club, also said that Turkey must first fulfil
the EU criteria and religious belief should not play any role.
Slovak Democratic and Christian Union [SDKU] Deputy Chairman Pavol
Kubovic noted that his party supported the commencement of open-ended
accession talks with Turkey and nothing has changed about this.
Former Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda said during the previous
election period that if Turkey, as well as the countries of former
Yugoslavia, were in the EU, Europe would be safer.
A Eurobarometer survey of last year showed that 50 per cent respondents
in Slovakia were against Turkey’s entry into the EU. On the initiative
of the KDH, Parliament adopted a resolution that the Ottoman Empire
had committed genocide against Armenians.