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.
Turkey's EU dream dealt double blow as Chirac and Merkel raise doubts
Luke Harding in Berlin and Nicholas Watt in Brussels Saturday August 27, 2005 The Guardian
Turkey's 40-year dream of joining the European family suffered a double blow yesterday when Jacques Chirac and Angela Merkel, Germany's conservative leader, raised serious doubts about forthcoming talks on EU membership. In his most significant intervention of the year on Turkey, the French president accused Ankara of failing to act "in the spirit" of a country hoping to join the EU.
Mr Chirac singled out Turkey's conduct last month when it signed a customs agreement with all EU countries - the last obstacle ahead of membership talks - but insisted that it would still refuse to recognise Cyprus.
During talks in Paris yesterday with José Manuel Barroso, the European commission president, Mr Chirac warned that "this declaration poses political and legal problems and that it is not in the spirit expected of a candidate to the union". As Mr Chirac voiced his unease, Turkey found itself under renewed pressure in the EU's largest country when Mrs Merkel signalled that she intends to torpedo Ankara's application if, as expected, she wins next month's German general election.
In a letter to the EU's conservative heads of government Mrs Merkel said negotiations with Turkey, which are due to start on October 3, should not automatically lead to membership. They should instead lead to a "privileged partnership" and should be "open ended".
The interventions by Mr Chirac and Mrs Merkel show that within weeks Turkey could face the nightmare scenario of losing the support of the EU's two most significant countries. Until now Paris and Berlin have been in favour of Turkish membership.
Mrs Merkel has always argued in favour of downgrading Turkish membership. The popularity of her stance has allowed Paris to become less friendly to Turkey after the French rejected the draft EU constitution in May. Unease at the prospect of Turkish EU membership was seen as part of the reason for the rejection.
The first public signs of the change in Paris came early this month when Dominique de Villepin, the French prime minister, said it was "inconceivable" that Turkey could start talks on EU membership without recognising one of its members. Unnamed ministers told Le Figaro newspaper that Mr Chirac had endorsed Mr De Villepin's remarks at a cabinet meeting.
The intervention by Mr Chirac yesterday shows that Turkey could run into trouble when the EU gives its formal response to its signing of the customs union, known as the Ankara Protocol. Britain, which is chairing the talks in its role as president of the EU, believes that Turkey does not need to recognise the Greek Cypriot government at this stage. But Britain needs to win the support of all 25 EU member states, which means that France could delay the talks.
Mrs Merkel's letter shows that she may try to change the nature of the membership negotiations. The basic framework of the talks, agreed by European leaders last December, is designed to lead to full membership. If the talks fail then Turkey would be offered something akin to Mrs Merkel's "privileged partnership".
But her plan would turn the talks on their head by placing this lower form of membership on the table at the start of the talks in October. Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, who would reject this, faces delicate discussions when he hosts a meeting of his EU counterparts in Wales next week.
Mrs Merkel sent her letter to the leaders of France, Italy, Austria, Holland and Greece, as well as to other conservative-led countries. A copy was sent to Tony Blair in his role as EU president.
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