Turkey ‘not ready for EU due to rights abuses’

By Martin Banks

Date: 02/09/04

TALKS over Turkey's accession to the EU should be put on hold because of continuing concern over human rights abuses in the country, says the leader of the biggest political group in the European Parliament.

In recent years, the Turkish government has adopted a number of reforms, including amending a controversial law used to imprison activists advocating Kurdish separatism, which are aimed at winning a date to start accession talks

But German MEP Hans-Gert Pöttering, leader of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP-ED), points out that human rights abuses reportedly continue

The European Commission is to publish a much-awaited report on Turkey's readiness for EU membership on 6 October and Pöttering says the human rights situation has to be an important factor before a decision is taken on when accession talks can start

"We have to ensure that human rights are adhered to and I do not feel the time is yet right to open accession discussions with Turkey," he said

His comments come after Günter Verheugen, the outgoing enlargement commissioner, this week made clear his opposition to deferring the start of accession talks with Turkey, on condition that EU leaders judge that it meets the Copenhagen criteria at their summit in December. He rejected the idea, proposed recently by a Dutch government's advisory council, that Turkey be given the green light for EU membership but that negotiations only begin in two years. Verheugen told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee that, in his view, negotiations should start by next May

The commissioner also dismissed a call for a partnership agreement between Brussels and Ankara - instead of Turkish EU membership. He said that the Union has committed itself to Ankara's membership and that the only issue now is whether Turkey fulfils the EU's political criteria

Article presents differing views about the opening of negotiations on EU accession with Turkey by European People's Party Leader Hans-Gert Pöttering and European Commissioner for Enlargement, Günter Verheugen.