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The
EU's Enlargement Commissioner, Guenter Verheugen,
has said Turkey must do more to improve the cultural
rights of its Kurdish minority.
"What we have seen so far can only be the
beginning," he said on a visit to the Diyarbakir
region, in the mainly Kurdish south-east of Turkey.
Mr Verheugen is on a fact-finding tour ahead of an
EU Commission report next month on Turkey's EU
membership bid.
EU leaders will decide in December whether to open
EU accession talks.
Mr Verheugen, quoted by Reuters news agency, said
Turkey needed to step up efforts to help displaced
Kurds return home.
"I think one should strongly support the wish of
people to return to their villages," he said.
Rights abuses
The Turkish military was blamed for widespread human
rights abuses carried out during a campaign against
Kurdish militants in the 1980s and 1990s.
Tens of thousands of Kurds fled or were evacuated
from their homes during the heaviest fighting, which
largely subsided after the capture of Kurdish
guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999.
Constitutional and judicial reforms undertaken by
Turkey in recent years are now under close EU
scrutiny.
On a visit to a women's centre in Diyarbakir, Mr
Verheugen stressed the need for Turkey to improve
women's rights.
"Democracy cannot be realised without gender
equality," he said.
Mr Verheugen said that it was important that the
reforms should continue.
In June, Turkey allowed the first, very limited
Kurdish-language broadcasts on state radio and
television.
Kurds, who form some 12 million of Turkey's 70
million population, are also pushing for Kurdish
language education in schools.
The commission's job is to make sure that Turkey
conforms with the political criteria laid down by
the EU as a precondition for membership. There is
much focus now on how the reforms are being
implemented.
Mistreatment of those in police custody was one
concern that many held about Turkey.
Concern in Brussels
A heated debate about Turkey continues to rage in
Brussels, the BBC's Oana Lungescu reports.
EU internal market commissioner Frits Bolkestein
said in a speech this week that Turkey's accession
could make the EU "implode" and would render the
entry of other countries such as Ukraine and Belarus
inevitable.
In a speech at Leyden University about the decline
and fall of empires, the Dutch liberal politician
said Turkey would have to change its identity
completely before it could join the EU.
After the accession of Turkey, Mr Bolkestein said,
Europe could no longer carry on with its current
farming and regional subsidies.
Our correspondent says Mr Bolkestein reflects wider
public unease about a poor, populous, Islamic
country joining the EU.
At least two other EU commissioners - Spain's Loyola
de Palacio and Austria's Franz Fischler - are
expected to voice their opposition in a month's
time, when the EU executive is due to publish its
crucial report on Turkey.
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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