-Caveat Lector- >From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml? xml=/news/2002/11/09/wturk09.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/11/09/ixnewstop.html
'Asiatic' Turkey is threat to EU, warns Giscard By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels (Filed: 09/11/2002) The head of Europe's constitutional convention, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, caused a diplomatic storm yesterday by calling Turkey an Asiatic nation that should never be allowed to join the European Union. The former French president said letting Turkey's 70 million Muslims in would be "the death of the European Union". "Its capital is not in Europe; 95 per cent of its population live outside Europe; it is not a European country," he said. Uttering publicly what is usually kept to a whisper in EU corridors, he told the newspaper Le Monde that Turkey had "a different culture, a different way of life" and was rooted by political geography in the Near East. He accused those forces pushing for Turkish membership of being "the adversaries of the European Union" who really wanted to head off moves towards full political union. While nobody was named, he was clearly accusing Washington and, more obliquely, London, which both back a better deal for Turkey to lock it into the western security system and into helping in the campaign against Iraq. "They say, 'We'll set up a free exchange zone in Europe and the Middle East. That way we'll be happy because integration will stop.' "But that is not at all the programme of the European Union," M Giscard said. "With its burgeoning population, Turkey would upset the whole balance of the EU, rapidly becoming "the biggest member state, with the biggest bloc in the European parliament". Once inside the EU, Turkey would press for Morocco and other Middle East states to be admitted until the whole concept of Europe would become meaningless. EU officials tried to calm the waters yesterday, reassuring the new Muslim-based government led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Ankara was still on track for eventual membership, so long as it met the same political and economic criteria demanded from every candidate state, whether Christian or not. M Giscard's outburst in Le Monde raised doubts about his fitness to continue presiding over the Convention on the Future of Europe, which includes three Turkish delegates and is supposed to be creating the architecture for an enlarged Europe. His words are a slap in the face for the EU's 15 elected prime ministers, who unanimously agreed in 1999 to confer candidacy status on Turkey, though France accepted the move with extreme reluctance at the time. The decision has not been revoked. The row comes just weeks before the Copenhagen summit, at which EU leaders are expected to give the go-ahead for the next round of enlargement, involving a Big Bang group of 10 states, mostly from Eastern Europe. But Turkey, too, is hoping for a breakthrough as a reward for its unflinching loyalty as a Nato ally, perhaps a starting date for accession talks. Over the past two years the country has abolished the death penalty, reformed its civil code, restored civil rights in the Kurdish provinces and lifted the ban of Kurdish broadcasting, all to comply with EU demands. But the European Commission's progress report on Turkey last month made it clear that there was still much work to be done before the country meets the "political criteria" of a liberal democracy. Yesterday the enlargement commissioner, Guenter Verheugen, said the new government must put an immediate stop to torture, prosecute those accused of human rights abuses and free political dissidents. In the interview, M Giscard accepted that Turkey is "a nation close to Europe and an important country" but said it should just have the normal co-operation partnership offered to countries beyond the geographic and cultural frontiers of a workable EU. Turkish officials said that the comments would not derail their efforts to achieve EU membership. Mr Erdogan, whose AK Party won Turkey's general election last weekend, said they represented "nothing more than emotion". Sami Kohen, a political commentator for the conservative Milliyet newspaper, said: "Turkey is already a member of a number of European institutions including the Council of Europe and none has collapsed as a result of Turkey's presence." 5 November 2002: Brussels watches, waits and listens 5 November 2002: AK victory heralds new dawn for Turkey 2 November 2002: Moderate Islamist party heads for poll win in Turkey 27 October 2002: More power for Europe's army puts future of Nato at risk 10 October 2002: Turkey told it can't join the 'club' yet Previous story: �146,000: average cost of a house as boom goes on Next story: Prince recalls happy memories of Queen Mother at poets' museum External links European Union Le Monde [in French] European Convention Nato Council of Europe � Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A<>E<>R + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; I don't believe everything I read or send (but that doesn't stop me from considering it; obviously SOMEBODY thinks it's important) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. 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