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German PM Merkel: Turkish EU membership won't be automatic |
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Friday, 2 December 2005BERLIN and ANKARA - New German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Turkey's not guaranteed entry in the EU and must meet series of stringent criteria. Merkel had declared her opposition to Turkey's EU membership before the elections. Turkish experts find Merkel biased and even 'anti-Turkish'.
In attempt to echo preference for 'privileged relationship' between Brussels and Ankara, stopping short of full membership, Merkel warns against overburdening ability of Union, which took in 10 mostly Eastern European states last year, to absorb more members.
New German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Turkey is not guaranteed entry in the European Union and that it must meet a series of stringent criteria. Dr. Sedat Laciner, head of the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization (USAK-ISRO) finds Merkel biased about Turkey: "None of the current problems in EU or in Germany caused by Turkey or Turkey's membership process. The EU has given almost nothing to Turkey, but expects a lot" Dr. Laciner argues. According to Laciner Merkel has to keep Germany's promises to Turkey and Germany with all other EU members inked that Turkey is a candidate country to become full-member. "Whose fullmembership was automatic?" Laciner asks. "Mrs. Merkel says nothing to help Turkey's EU membership, becuase she does not think that Turkey is a European country due to the cultural and religious differences. This is a dangerous approach and undermines Turkey-EU and Turkey-Germany relations" Laciner added.
Merkel made the remarks during her first speech to the German Parliament to determine the new coalition government's foreign policy.
The membership negotiations that began on Oct. 3 "are a process with an open end and the outcome cannot be guaranteed in advance," Merkel said.
Merkel told the Parliament that any country hoping to join the EU must fulfill all the conditions without restrictions.
In an attempt to echo her preference for a "privileged" relationship between Brussels and Ankara, which stops short of full membership, Merkel warned against overburdening the ability of the Union, which took in 10 mostly Eastern European states last year, to absorb more members.
If Turkey fails to meet those conditions or the EU is not ready to admit it, Turkey "must be bound as closely as possible to European structures in a way that further develops its privileged relationship to the EU," she said.
Merkel pledges 'open, honest' dialogue with Islam
The new German chancellor also pledged an "open and honest" dialogue with Islam but denounced forced marriages and so-called "honor" killings.
"A dialogue with Islam carries great significance -- we have to learn to understand each other," Merkel told the Parliament.
"We will do this in an open and honest way. We will not brush aside differences, but name them clearly," she added.
Merkel stated that forced marriages and "honor" killings "have nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with honor and also no place whatsoever in our society. We cannot tolerate them."
But she also stressed that "Germany is a tolerant and cosmopolitan country" and pledged to defend the rights of all minority groups.
JTW with the New Anatolian |
Friday, 2 December 2005
Germany and Turkey
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