KurdistanObserver.com

On With Reform Drive, EU Enlargement Chief Tells Turkey

AFP- Mar 6, 2005- Turkey must keep up its reform drive in order to realise its dream of joining the European Union, the EU’s enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said Sunday, amid fears that Ankara has cooled on reform since it obtained a date for membership talks.

He also said that he had received assurances that Ankara will sign by the start of accession talks in October an essential protocol to extend a customs agreement to Cyprus, an EU-member with which Turkey has no relations.

"I must say that Turkey has done very bold and significant reforms to improve human rights. Now it is understandable that there be a short breathing space," Rehn told reporters after talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

"But at the same time, it is extremely important that Turkey keep up the momentum in legal, political and also increasingly economic reforms," he added.

At an EU summit in December, Turkey won the green light to begin accession negotiations with the European bloc on October 3 this year, but the opposition and the pro-European lobby here fear that the government may have since lost some of its reform drive, out of its relief at being given a date for talks.

Rehn said the Turkish government should ensure proper implementation of measures to stamp out torture, extend cultural rights for the Kurdish community and give women greater rights.

Turkey must also take steps to improve the situation of non-Muslim communities and ensure greater freedom of expression, he added.

Gul pledged that his government would not waver on the reform front. "The government is determined; the reforms and their implementation will continue," he said.

Political observers here say Ankara must make special efforts to fulfil a set of conditions demanded by the Union before it can begin negotiations.

One of the demands is for Turkey to update an already-existing accord with the EU, taking into account the Union’s 10 new member states which joined last year -- including Cyprus.

"I received assurances from Gul that this will be signed well in time before October 3, thus paving the way for start of negotiations," Rehn said.

While Turkey insists that extending the customs accord to Cyprus does not amount to official recognition of the Mediterranean island state, the EU says it amounts to de facto recognition.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey occupied its northern third following a Greek Cypriot coup seeking to unite the island with Greece. Turkey only recognises the breakaway Turkish north of the island.

Gul said his government would sign the customs protocol, but expressed regret that the European Union had so far failed to fulfil pledges to give financial aid and ease trade restrictions on the breakaway Turkish Cypriots made after their support for a UN settlement plan in a referendum last April.

The plan was killed off by a strong "no" on the Greek Cypriot side.

Rehn said he was "reasonably confident" the European Union would meet its pledges, which he said he hoped would lead to a revival of peace talks and a settlement to the island’s division.

"We have to now use and create momentum in order to prep the ground for the start of serious talks for the settlement of the Cyprus question," Rehn said, adding that the pan-European bloc would do its best to facilitate the peace process.

The enlargement chief is in Turkey for a three-day visit during which he will also meet Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and visit Istanbul for talks with non-governmental organizations and business leaders.
Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn of Luxembourg, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, and Britain’s Europe minister Denis MacShane, whose country will take over the presidency in June, will also take part in the talks in Ankara on Monday.