"IF TURKEY WERE EUROPEAN WE WOULD KNOW IT" LEADER OF FORMER FRENCH RULING PARTY CONSIDERS

PanARMENIAN.Net - Supporters of the Northern League Party in Italy took to the streets to protest at the decision. According to media reports, they unfurled banners saying, "yes to Christian roots". Nicolas Sarkozy, former Finance Minister and "rising star of French politics", renewed his call for a "privileged partnership" with Turkey,

rather than full membership. Mr Sarkozy, who hopes to take over from Jacques Chirac as French President in 2007, said, "If Turkey were European, we would know it. I'm for a privileged partnership but I'm reserved about membership, like a large number of notable voices", Richard Carter, EU Observer reporter, writes in his article dedicated to the reaction to EU's decision in some European countries. Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel announced that his country would join France in holding a referendum on Turkey's accession, adding another potential obstacle in Ankara's path. This decision was criticized by Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot who said, "we have never said to the Turks, neither in 1999 nor in 2002, that a referendum would lie at the end of the process. We have to be fair". And Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter reports that the Kurdish minority in

Turkey are disappointed because their hopes to have their language recognized were not raised as a issue. Of the 70 million people in Turkey, 20 million are Kurds.