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Turkey received a direct rebuke from the European
Commission yesterday after a court ruling prompted
the cancellation of a conference of historians to
discuss the massacre of Armenians early in the last
century.
Coming just 10 days before Ankara is due to open EU
membership negotiations the judgement prompted an
unusually blunt condemnation from the Commission,
which described it as "yet another provocation".
Last night efforts were under way to salvage the
conference and bypass the legal ruling by holding it
today at a new location.
But the judgement, which was condemned by the Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is a reminder of how
far Turkey still needs to travel to guarantee
freedom of expression.
Evidence of the power of the conservatives in
Turkish society is likely to embolden critics of the
country's EU membership bid. However Ankara's
supporters say that internal reforms will only
continue if Turkey is given the prospect of joining
the bloc.
The row is unlikely to derail plans to start EU
membership negotiations on 3 October in Luxembourg.
The two leading sceptics over Turkey's EU
membership, France and Cyprus, have been placated by
language in a declaration stating that Ankara must
recognise Cyprus before it joins the EU. Austria is
isolated in its efforts to inject a new pledge that
the negotiations could lead to a "privileged
partnership" instead of full membership.
But the European Commission's spokeswoman for
enlargement, Krisztina Nagy, said: "We strongly
deplore this new attempt to prevent Turkish society
from freely discussing its history. The timing of
this decision the day before the opening of the
conference looks like yet another provocation." She
said the cancellation "illustrates the difficulties
of Turkey, and in particular of the judiciary, to
ensure effective and uniform implementation of the
reforms". The killing of Armenians during the
collapse of the Ottoman Empire remains a sensitive
issue. A number of countries have recognised the
massacres as genocide though that description is
flatly rejected by Turkey.
The furore comes after a legal case against one of
Turkey's most acclaimed writers, Orhan Pamuk who has
been charged with insulting the country's national
character. The trial, arising out of comments made
on Turkey's killing of Armenians and Kurds, could
lead to a prison sentence of up to three years.
The conference, which had already been postponed
once, was scheduled to be held at Bogazici
University. Aydin Ugur, president of Istanbul Bilgi
University, said the gathering would take place this
morning at Bilgi. He said the court's order was
directed at two other universities, and had "nothing
to do with Bilgi". But Laurent Leylekian, executive
director of the European Armenian Federation, said:
"We would be surprised if this kind of conference
takes place in Turkey. There is no will in the
government to open the Armenian file because this
issues is deeply linked with the founding of the
Turkish republic."
One EU diplomat described the ruling as "stupid" but
added: "It is not going to cause a problem between
now and 3 October. The EU has been very ready to
criticise but not so ready to come through with its
commitments." The Commission said it would note the
issue in its annual report on candidate countries
which is used as a yardstick of the membership
preparation.
www.independent.co.uk
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