Eu Presses Turkey On Human Rights

[Vigil]

EU parliament presses Turkey on human rights

 

 

BRUSSELS, March 17 (Reuters) - Turkey must improve its record on human

rights and the rule of law before European Union member states start

talks with Ankara on adopting EU laws, the European Parliament said on

Wednesday.

 

Turkey has been trying to join the EU for decades, and has faced

consistent calls to remedy human rights abuses. The bloc is due to

decide by the end of this year whether to set a date when accession

negotiations may begin.

 

The entry of any new member state requires the approval of the

parliament, but the assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee made clear

Ankara had a long way to go -- even though the Union is committed to

its eventual membership.

 

Deputies "criticised the continuing influence of the army in politics,

business, culture and education, continuing torture practices and

mistreatment, the intimidation and harassment of human rights

defenders, the discrimination of religious minorities and the fact

that trade union freedom is not fully secured," they said in a

statement.

 

Deputies noted Turkey had made many important reforms since last year

to meet the membership criteria, and praised the government's

political will to improve conditions, while saying reforms could only

be judged by how they were implemented.

 

Members of the parliament called on the EU's executive Commission to

press Ankara on these issues.

 

"The Commission should, as part of the pre-accession strategy,

systematically address the shortcomings in the rule of law and the

democratic deficit," the statement said.

 

The Foreign Affairs Committee insisted that settlement of the Cyprus

conflict was "an essential condition for progress" in Turkey's

membership bid, and also urged Ankara to open its borders with

Armenia.

 

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when troops from Turkey occupied

the north of the island in response to a coup in Nicosia engineered by

the junta then ruling Greece.

 

The United Nations is brokering reunification talks bringing together

Greece, Turkey, and Greek and Turkish Cypriots, to try to unite the

island before it joins the EU on May 1.

 

Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Armenia, independent since the

break up of the Soviet Union in 1991.

 

Armenians say 1.5 million people were killed in a 1915-1918 campaign

to expel them from eastern Turkey, calling it genocide, a charge

Turkey denies.

 

 

 

03/17/04 11:46 ET

 

 

 

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Edited May 31, 2004 by Vigil