Netherlands more critical on Turkey than European Commission

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Dutch parliament agrees with Foreign Minister Verhagen and Secretary of State for European Affairs Timmermans who have taken a more critical position than the European Commission on the issue of progress of reforms in Turkey. This can be stated as the outcome of the debate today, where among others the EC Turkey 2007 Progress Report was on the agenda in preparation of the EU Top on 14 December. The Federation of Armenian Organizations in the Netherlands (FAON) had previously sent a letter to the parliament, reporting on several issues such as Article 301 of Turkish Penal Code, freedom of religion, rights of minorities, and blatant denial of the Armenian genocide by the Turkish authorities, FAON told PanARMENIAN.Net



In a letter to the parliament, the Dutch government subscribed to the critical remarks of the European Commission, but on a number of points they chose a stricter position than the Commission. According to the Netherlands more emphasis should be put on the juridical system; moreover, the Netherlands has a less positive opinion on freedom of religion, pointing to the ongoing threats towards members of religious minorities. These obstacles should be lifted "as soon as possible."



There have been more persecutions this year, among others because of the Armenian issue. Therefore, on freedom of speech, the Commission states that Article 301 and others should be put in line with the European Convention on Human Rights. The Netherlands demands the modification of the Penal Code to be "on a short term," thus going further than the Commission.



Several political parties referred to the recent research under Turkish magistrates who have put the state's interest above individual human rights and of whom only 16% is in favor of scrapping Article 301. .



Several parties raised the Armenian Genocide, mostly in connection with the lack of freedom to discuss it in Turkey. Most prominently, it was the Christian Union faction that expressed its opinion on this. The spokesperson of the Christian Union, Mrs Wiegmans, called the denial of the Armenian Genocide one of the key problems in Turkey. One cannot be certain of one's life when one speaks about it, especially for a Turkish citizen of Armenian origin. She said that it is a disgrace for the European Union to continue negotiations under these circumstances. Is the motion of Rouvoet of 2004, which asks to continuously and explicitly address the recognition of the Armenian Genocide within the negotiation process with Turkey, still being carried out? Her signal is that the continuous denial of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey should have consequences for the negotiations. She also referred to the signal her party gave by initiating a law to penalize genocide denial.



In response, Minister Verhagen indicated that the shortcomings of Turkey in the field of the political criteria are severe, not only for Turkey itself, but also for the public support for Turkey within Europe. The Minister as well as the Secretary of State stressed that reforms and negotiations will take a very long process of which the outcome, different from before, is not certain in advance. The Netherlands and Europe will stick to agreements made with Turkey and Turkey should do the same. Within this context the minister indicated that no new criteria can be added, by which he meant the remarks made by the Christian Union on the Armenian Genocide. What is relevant for the negotiations is whether the issue of the Armenian Genocide can be raised in Turkey or not, but the recognition of it is not one of the preconditions in the process. It should however be the case, at least according to the Minister, that if a country wants to join the EU, it should face its history.



Secretary of State Timmermans mentioned in his speech that the "Kemalist view of the world" in Turkey should be abandoned in order for Turkey to become a democratic constitutional state.