Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

TURKEY: ANKARA WARNED AGAINST GERMAN CHURCH DELEGATION, REPORT CLAIMS


Germany's main opposition party, the Christian Democrats, is opposed to Ankara's membership of the EU, with their leader Angela Merkel - the daughter of a Lutheran pastor - calling for a partnership arrangement with Turkey as an alternative to EU membership.

The German Lutheran Church delegation, Evangelische Landeskirche, supposedly supported the "terrorist organisation Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and "carried out activities" aimed at preventing Turkey from joining the European Union (EU). I take the implication to be the Evangelische Landeskirche is aligned with the Christian Democrats making both supporters of the PKK.

-Am




Ankara, 1 July (AKI) - Turkish authorities in Ankara warned regional governors in southeastern Anatolia not to hold "official contacts" with a German Lutheran Church delegation visiting the area in June to check on the condition of Kurdish refugees, a Turkish newspaper has revealed. The foreign ministry also warned the Turkish Parliament ahead of a scheduled visit by the church delegation to the Parliamentary Justice Commission, the Turkish daily Zaman, said in a report on Friday.

A secret note sent to the Parliament said that the Evangelische Landeskirche in Germany supported the "terrorist organisation Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and "carried out activities" aimed at preventing Turkey from joining the European Union (EU).

The 11-member Evangelische Landeskirche delegation visited Turkey from June 8-17.

The delegation had expressed its intention to visit the southeastern Anatolina towns of Van, Midyat Mardin and Diyarbakir during the trip. It also requested a meeting with the Turkish gendarme paramilitary commander in Van for information on Kurdish refugees from Iran and Iraq.

According to Zaman, these demands "caused discomfort" in Ankara.

Turkey's Embassy in Berlin, acting on foreign ministry directives, apparently told Church officials ahead of the visit that the delegation was "not acting in line with procedures for its visit to southeastern Anatolia."

The Embassy proposed that the delegation meet with government officials in Ankara before proceeding with the visit to southeastern Anatolia.

Despite "this warning", Zaman said, the Lutheran representatives went directly to Van, Midyat, and Diyarbakir where they tried to obtain appointments through "unofficial ways, though they failed to have any contacts with province and district governors."

This latest development comes amid a cooling in relations between Turkey and Germany, whose ruling Social Democrat and Green parties were once among the strongest supporters of Ankara's bid to join the EU.

Recently, senior officials in Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic party have warned Turkey it must abide with EU demands to recognise the Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia as well as continue fulfilling human rights requirements and other conditions for EU membership.

Germany's main opposition party, the Christian Democrats, is opposed to Ankara's membership of the EU, with their leader Angela Merkel - the daughter of a Lutheran pastor - calling for a partnership arrangement with Turkey as an alternative to EU membership.



(Pwm/Aki)


01-Jul-05 12:38

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.182733238&par=0