Turkey Not Ready for EU

July 5, 2006 - 18:48 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Following an attack on a French Catholic priest in Samsun on Sunday, a top Vatican official said yesterday that Turkey shouldn't become a member of the European Union until freedom of religion is guaranteed. Speaking to Italian daily Corriere de la Sera, Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Vatican's department for Christian Unity, said, "We believe that Turkey isn't ready to integrate with Europe. If it were a truly secular state, it would be able to guarantee freedom of religion. Right now the atmosphere in the country is very tense and hostile towards minorities." Charging that freedom of religion in Turkey is restricted by radical nationalism and fundamentalism, Kasper added he doesn't think attacks on members of the clergy and missionaries are personal. Kasper also said that as freedom of religion isn't guaranteed, Turkey isn't ready to join the EU, reported Yerkir.
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