EP Foreign Affairs Committee to debate report on Turkey's 2007 progress May 21

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee will debate May 21 a report on Turkey's 2007 progress. "Transform priorities and time-lines into reform plans," the Foreign Affairs Committee urged Turkey, in its latest progress report. The committee welcomes several recent legislative activities of Turkey, while insisting that the speed of reforms must pick up. The report "welcomes the commitment of Prime Minister Erdogan that 2008 is going to be the year of reforms" and "urges the Turkish government to fulfill its promises" by implementing them.



The report has been amended considerably since it was put on the agenda on April 21.



As the European Armenian Federation said earlier, the "new preparatory document seems to be less brief than the former one which essentially aimed at exhibiting a gesture of goodwill towards the new elected Turkish government. Nevertheless, it remains well short of European expectations by continuing in minimizing the serious breaches of Turkey."



In the "external relations" chapter, the draft report "calls on the Turkish government to end the economic blockade and re-open its border with Armenia" but, in accordance with the rest of the document, abstains from condemning Turkey. The Armenian Genocide issue is dodged by a wording which "calls on the Turkish and Armenian governments to start a process of reconciliation, in respect of the present and the past, allowing for a frank and open discussion of past events".



"This wording is typically dictated by Ankara: by refusing to mention the Genocide, it is denialist; by sending away Turkey and Armenia, the genocide is rooted out from the political scene and from the context of International Law in order to consider it as a tool of the only conflict between a criminal state and its victims", commented Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the European Armenian Federation.