European Liberal Democrats Back Turkey’s EU Accession
Posted by jonathanfryer on Friday, 20th November, 2009
European Liberal Democrats, meeting at the annual congress of the ELDR in Barcelona, this morning passed a resolution (which I proposed) stating clearly our support for Turkish accession to the European Union, providing Ankara fulfils all of the so-called Copenhagen criteria for membership. This is in sharp contrast to the negative comments about Turkey´s EU vocation made recently by conservative leaders such as President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, as well as the newly appointed President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy.
The resolution noted the progress that Turkey has been making with regard to the Copenhagen criteria — as acknowledged in last month’s report from the European Commission – while pointing out that more needs to be achieved in areas such as freedom of expression and the media. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s initiatives towards resolving Turkey’s longstanding Kurdish question were welcomed.
The resolution — which was finalised in consultation with the German Liberal FDP (now in charge of the Federal Republic’s Foreign Ministry) – also called on the European Union to do more to facilitate a settlement of the Cyprus dispute and to end the isolation of Turkish Cypriots.
Link: www.eldr.org
Dominic Black said
Why on Earth? Surely the majority of ELDR have some sense of geography. There is only a small part of Turkey that is part of the continent of Europe, and as that is only a part of Turkey through invasion and nothing else it is just rewarding Turkish militarism. On a point more related to Liberalism the state of Turkey is three things it is anti Armenian, anti Kurdish and anti Greek. It has no reason for existing other than these three negatives. This is nothing against Turkish individuals; their ancestors were around long before the existence of the Turkish state. For ELDR to support the accession of Turkey is something that its members should hang their heads in shame. This is a deplorable stance for Liberals to take. Liberals should be supporting the oppressed Kurds and not their foul oppressors the government of Turkey. Support for the Turkish accession is an insult to the Kurds who are being killed by the Turkish government and also to their families.