Turkey attacks setback for EU entry hopes

Date: 10/06/1999

By Simon Taylor

TURKEY has criticised EU leaders for failing to support a German plan to confirm the country's status as a candidate for Union membership in return for improvements in its human rights record.

Ankara's hopes of joining the list of countries eligible for accession negotiations suffered a setback at the Cologne summit when the Greek and Swedish premiers blocked a personal bid by German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to revive Turkey's relations with the Union.

In response to a new offer from Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit to meet the EU's requirements on human rights and democracy - the so-called Copenhagen criteria - Schröder tried to persuade fellow leaders to promise Turkey that its candidature for EU membership would be confirmed at the Helsinki summit in December.

But Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Simitis blocked the initiative, insisting that while he welcomed any commitment by Turkey to improve its human rights record, there had to be concrete signs of progress before Ankara could be given commitments on EU membership.

Simitis was supported by Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson, who argued that the EU should treat the ongoing trial of rebel Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan as a test of Turkey's willingness to improve its human rights record. Large sections of the Turkish population have called for the PKK leader to be executed for his role in an organisation blamed for the deaths of thousands of people in the conflict. But the Turkish government has assured EU governments that the death sentence, while still on the statute books, is no longer used.

The outcome of the summit has been bitterly criticised by Ankara, which has accused Union governments of continuing their "discriminatory policy" towards Turkey. A foreign ministry spokesman said that, under the circumstances, "Turkey should not be expected to change her approach to the EU".

In protest at what Ankara sees as the EU making extra demands on human rights and democracy before making it an official candidate for accession, Turkey is refusing to discuss key political issues such as the division of Cyprus with Union countries.

At his press conference at the end of the summit, a clearly disappointed Schröder singled out the absence of a deal for Turkey as the only failure of an otherwise successful summit. "I tried to explain that negotiations can start when Turkey meets the Copenhagen criteria and Article 6 of the Amsterdam Treaty but my efforts ran into the sand," he told journalists.

In a personal letter to the Turkish premier before the summit, Schröder welcomed Ecevit's commitment to improving human rights and offered to help draw up a 'road map' of necessary reforms. The German leader also highlighted Ecevit's apparent desire for reconciliation with Greece.