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Turkey wants full EU membership says FM Gul
25.6.2007 |
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June
25, 2007
ATHENS,-- Turkey wants full EU membership and
will not settle with merely joining a Mediterranean
partnership, Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul
said in an interview published Sunday in a Greek
newspaper.
"Turkey is a country that is negotiating complete
membership in the EU," he told the Kathimerini
daily, insisting that while "cooperation between
Mediterranean countries is important, one must
render the existing cooperation more efficient
rather than move toward new initiatives."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who opposes
Turkey's entry into the European Union, has proposed
to create a union of countries surrounding the
Mediterranean Sea that Ankara could join instead.
Gul, who has launched a controversial bid to become
Turkey's next president, emphasized "the great
responsibility of the elite politicians in the
countries" who refuse Turkey EU membership,
insisting on "Turkey's role of moderation [that]
constitutes important values that the EU should not
ignore."
The foreign minister also blasted "the attempt to
transfer the case of the Cypriot problem from the UN
to the European Union to reach unilateral
concessions from Turkey.
"If this stringent policy continues, I'm afraid
there will be no room for optimism," he said.
As for Ankara's continuing battle against the
separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Gul said
it was "the main priority of the Turkish government.
"We have decided to take all the indispensable
measures to reduce the terrorist threat from
northern Iraq," he said.
More than 37,000 people have been killed since the
PKK, classified as a terror organization by Ankara,
the United States, and the European Union, took up
arms for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish
southeast.
Turkey charges that thousands of PKK rebels have
found refuge in northern Iraq where they are able to
obtain weapons and explosives to launch attacks
across the border.
AFP
** 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.
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.
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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