Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

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TNTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, MONDAY, MARCH 17, 1997
By Tom Buerkle
Internoliof1tl1 Herald Tribune
, The closer tiestould incluge giv- , The ministers' overture tp Ankara
ing Turkey a seat at a permanént was aimed at haiting a recent de-
European èonference" whiêh th,e terioration in EU~T\!Tlcishrelations,
APELDOORN, the Netherlands ministers agreed should be' begUJl whjch has threàten~d to irit~rféte
European Union foreign min- nc;;xtyear, alongside the 10 countries with the planned' expansion of
ifitèrssought to reassure Tui"kéy on of Central and Eastern Europe and NATO and the Union into Central
Sunday that it had a future in the Cyprus, which have been promis~d Europe.But those relations contin\le
'\v,est, saying they were ready to e~entuai EU membership. ., to' be clouded 'by the attitude of
deepen economic and political. c()- ';"The agreement on the coriference, Europe' s own leaders, as well as
opération and' were leaving the doot', which Ftenèh' officials' have 'prö- G~e 's continued refusal to lift its
open to eventual EU membership 'posed for months but which min-
~or Ankara. 'isters discussed for the first time
"It is very important that we es-here, provided the,clearest signal to,
it~-lblishaline,alanguage;thatisboth :late that the Union will mimic the
:positive and comprehensive," North Atlantic Treaty Organization
}lerve de Charette, the French for- and open membership negotiations
4ign minister, said after a meeting ofwith only a handful of the most-
'EU foreign ministers here Sunday. ,advanced Central European coun-
~U membershipwas noton the ~ble 'tries next year., ,
tpday, he said, but "Turkey has the; , The conference "allows us to
ïjight to join the EU,and that right give those whoaren't in the first
ijas to be confmned forcefully." :wave the feelingthat they are riot
, , " . being ignored," said the German,
foreign minister, Klaus Kinkel. , '
, Mr. de Charette, who proposed thé
, 'The EUwants Turkey
toremain on the track
, to Europe. and not to
,be pushed into a
siding,' but 'it is clear
that Turkeydoes not
now fulfill conditions
for membership.'
conference, said it would bring to- , '
gether leaders aJ1dforeign ministers veto on 375 million Ecus ($417 milof
the Union and candidate countries lion) of promised EU aid to Tur-
,at least once a year for talks on issues key.
ranging from economic and political Ankarawas dismayed last month
reform to combating international . when Europe' s Christian Democratcrime'
and drug trafficking.' FraJ)ce . iè leaders, iriclùding Chancellor
and Britain s\Jpport Turkey's inclu- Hehnut Kohl of Germany and Prime
sion in the conference, but Mr. Ministers Romano Prodi ofItaly and
Kinkel and sev.eral other ministers Ipse-Maria' Aznar of, Spain, apwere
more ambivalent. peared to mIe outED membership
for Turkey because , overwhelmingly from offering membership to some' •'The EU wants Turkey to remain
Central European nations this sum- on the track to Europe and not to'be
mer unless the Union accords it the pushed into a siding," MI'. KinkeL
same status of EU candidate as Po~ said. But, he added, "it is clear that
land, Hungary and other fonner So- Turkey does not now fulfill the conviet-bloc
Mr. de Charette and Malcolm Rif~ other ministers cited conce1"nsabout
kind, the British foreign minister, human rights and Turkey'shandling
of has urged Europe not to close any galos rejected the idea here, reitdoors.to
a to the West and does not want a menton C)P!1ls. ,
of the Muslim country' s popula-" rebuff to push it into deepening ties
with Islamic countries, but the govtion.'
'ernment is sensitive about Ger-
Foreign threatened member, Minister Tansu that Turkey, would block the Ciller has: a NATO' alliance' many's large Turkish minority popthreatened
ulation adCl is wary of ~ndorsing EU
memberS&ip for Ankara.
states. ditions for membership." He and
insisted that Turkey' must be judged s EU ambitions on the same ob- its Kurdish minority.
Inthe short run, ministers stepped
jective