British Church Hierarchs Question Whether Turkey Should Join EUSeptember 22, 2006 - 19:35 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The Catholic archbishop of England and Wales on Thursday questioned whether Turkey, a predominantly Muslim and secular country, should join the European Union. Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the archbishop of Westminster, is disputing Prime Minister Tony Blair's strong advocacy of Turkey's membership. "There may be another view that the mixture of cultures is not a good idea," Cardinal O'Connor said in an interview with BBC radio. Cardinal O'Connor questioned whether "a continent that, fundamentally, is Christian" would benefit from admitting a large predominantly Muslim country to the Union. "I speak also in a sense for the people of this country," 70 percent of whom say they are Christian, he said. In related news, former Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey also expressed reservations about Turkey joining the EU. "I think the jury is still out on Turkey at the moment. I look at its record on freedom of speech and so on, what it is doing to writers in Turkey who want to speak out, and some of them are in jail," the Anglican leader said, reported AP. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | The Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life charity The companies inform that the May beneficiary of The Power of One Dram is the “Road of Life” charitable organization. Ucom General Director gives lecture at French University in Armenia The General Director of Ucom Ralph Yirikian delivered a lecture at the French University of Armenia. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. |