Eurlings: Turkey Cannot Become EU Member without Armenian Genocide Recognition

PanARMENIAN.Net - The report on Turkey prepared by Dutch rapporteur Camiel Eurlings will be discussed and voted on in the European Parliament (EP) General Assembly next week. The draft report on Turkey's progress towards accession to the EU and the reforms is to be discussed in the European parliament on Tuesday.



The report includes a provision, according to which the recognition of the Armenian, Pontus Greek and Syrian genocides becomes a precondition for Turkey's EU membership.



The report will be discussed on Tuesday afternoon and the European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn will attend the meeting. The voting of the report is to take place on Wednesday. Earlier this month, the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee approved Camiel Eurlings' report on Turkey. The report called on Turkey to recognize the killings of Armenians during WWI as Genocide and to open its ports to Greek Cypriot traffic.



The Turkish Foreign Ministry rejected the report, saying that it lacked common sense and smacked of political bias. The draft report insists that there are persistent shortcomings in areas such as freedom of expression, religious, minority and women's rights in Turkey, said cinannews.