Decision on Turkey will be 'fair', says EU official
A top European Union official said today that the bloc’s upcoming decision on Turkey’s suitability for membership would take into account the series of reforms that the country has carried out.
Guenter Verheugen, the EU’s commissioner in charge of enlargement, was in Ankara on his last visit before the commission is to release a crucial report on whether Turkey has made enough progress to meet the EU’s membership criteria. The report is scheduled for release next month.
Turkey hopes to get a starting date for membership negotiations at an EU summit in December.
Verheugen’s visit comes as a panel of former high-ranking EU officials recommended in Brussels that the EU forge ahead with membership talks as soon as Turkey meets minimum standards of democracy, but warned that that could take a decade.
The panel was led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari.
The EU’s assessment “will be fair, objective and honest and will take into account the impressive progress made in Turkey”, Verheugen told reporters after holding talks with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.
He said the decision would also be “clear and firm” in reply to suggestions that the EU’s report may not be decisive.
Turkey has in the past five years passed sweeping reforms to meet EU membership conditions, such as abolishing the death penalty and granting greater cultural rights to Kurds. The EU has welcomed the reforms but warned that implementation has been slow.
“We will not hide the fact that there are difficulties in some areas and that implementation is not complete,” Verheugen said, quickly adding: “But that’s normal.”
Verheugen later travelled to Diyarbakir, the largest city in the overwhelmingly Kurdish south-east. Security forces have battled autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels in the south-east and there have been reports of serious human rights abuses.
“Violence is not the solution,” Verheugen said after talks with local officials. “I strongly believe that the best way to guarantee the political, social, and cultural rights of Kurdish citizens is European integration.”
Verheugen is also scheduled to hold talks with Turkey’s business community in the Aegean port city of Izmir during his five-day stay in the country.
Gul said at a press conference with Verheugen that Turkey would continue to carry out democratic reforms regardless of any EU decision.
“There is no question of us saying: ’We’ve reached our station, let’s get out,”’ Gul said.
