(19/10/04) Europese Groenen debatteren over Turkije

• 2004-10-19

De Europese Groenen houden een conferentie in Istanbul. Ze spreken er met tal van vertegenwoordigers uit de civiele maatschappij. De debatten zullen eerlijk zijn, hoewel soms moeilijk, zo verwoordde fractievoorzitter Dany Cohn-Bendit het . Hij hoopt - na de Frans-Duitse verzoening en de post-communistische integratie - op een derde Europees mirakel: dat van de Bosporus. Joost Lagendijk, EP-lid voor GroenLinks en voorzitter van de parlementaire samenwerkingscommissie EU-Turkije, voegt daaraan toe dat de Europese Groenen Turkije een warm welkom heten, maar dat niet op een kritiekloze manier zullen doen.

Meer informatie over deze conferentie

Greens open Istanbul conference with promise of an honest but difficult debate

The Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament today announced their intention to have an honest – and at times difficult – discussion with Turkish politicians and civil society during their three-day conference (from 19-22 Oct) in Istanbul. At a press conference to launch 'Turkey in the EU: a common future?', Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Co-President of the Greens/EFA Group, said:

"We plan to explore what our expectations are of Turkey and what this country expects from us. Turkey should not be calling for equal treatment – they should be calling for special treatment. Turkey is a country of 70 million people and of great importance to Europe – but its integration into the EU is not comparable to that of Malta or Bulgaria or Bosnia. It will be difficult both for Turkey and for the EU but is one of the most important steps that we must both take. The defining points of Europe's post-war development have been Franco-German reconciliation and post-communist integration – as I call it the miracles of the Rhine and the Oder. I hope that in ten or fifteen years we will have witnessed a third miracle; the miracle of the Bosporus."

Monica Frassoni, Co-President of the Greens/EFA Group, said:

"The European constitution, when ratified, is not the final step in Europe's democratic development. Turkey's potential accession will create a strong alliance between those who want further democratisation in that country and those who want further democratisation in the European Union and this alliance will strengthen the drive for reform in both places. For a widened Union to function with 27 or 28 members, the work of deepening and consolidating political integration must continue."

Joost Lagendijk, Chair of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliament committee, said:

"Our message to Turkey is friendly and welcoming but not uncritical. While we want accession negotiations to begin next year we will not overlook the serious issues that are a problem now and will be a problem in the future. During this conference we discuss with Turkish experts and activists the issues of women's rights, freedom of the press, torture and the treatment of the Kurdish, Armenian and Christian communities. We want Turkey to know that we are its friend, but that to maintain a healthy relationship friends sometimes have to make critical remarks."

Cem Özdemir, German Green MEP, said:

"Before the European Council makes its decision on opening accession talks with Turkey, this conference gives us the opportunity to reassure our friends working here to promote women's rights, to defend the environment, to abolish torture and to reform the education system that we are here and we are listening. Their fight is our fight. The fact that Turkey is now on the brink of starting accession negotiations with the EU is due greatly to their efforts. We want to learn about civil society's perspective on Turkey's accession and we want to reassure them that in the years ahead we will help them to achieve their goals."