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Turkish PM vows to step up reforms
demanded by EU
8.11.2007 |
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November
8, 2007
ROME, -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said Wednesday his country would re-launch
its reform program as demanded by the European Union
in assessing Ankara's progress toward possible
membership.
"Turkey confirms its determination to take the
necessary steps toward its integration in the EU,"
Erdogan said during a joint press conference in Rome
with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.
But while acknowledging a slowdown in reforms,
Erdogan also said "there are points we don't share"
with Tuesday's annual report by the EU on Turkey's
progress toward membership.
Among other areas needing improvement, the report by
the EU's executive branch cited freedom of
expression, human rights, civilian control of the
military, the fight against corruption and judicial
reform.
On Tuesday
the
European Commission urged EU candidate Turkey on Tuesday to
do more to
improve the rights and welfare of Kurds
in the mainly Kurdish southeastern of Turkey and avoid military action
against Turkey's Kurdish PKK separatists based in
Iraqi Kurdistan.
Turkey began adhesion negotiations with Brussels in
2005, but progress has been halting.
So far, four of the 35 negotiating chapters which
Ankara must successfully complete have been opened,
and only one closed.
Separately, Erdogan expressed hope that a new
intelligence-sharing agreement with the United
States would "put an end" to the presence of
Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels in Iraq.
US President George W. Bush, who met with Erdogan in
Washington Monday, promised to deliver "real-time"
intelligence to Ankara on the movements of the rebel
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Turkey, the US
and the European Union deem a terrorist group.
Turkey has not excluded launching an operation
against PKK bases in Kurdistan region 'northern
Iraq' after the Turkey's separatists significantly
stepped up their attacks.
Over 37,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK
guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK
took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Washington opposes such a scenario, fearing possible
violence in what has been a relatively Kurdistan,
the peaceful part of Iraq.
AFP
**
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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