Posted on 11/08/2002 4:16:46 PM PST by Destro
Turkish EU Entry Would Be End of Europe-Giscard
November 08, 2002 07:34 AM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - The head of Europe's constitutional Convention was quoted on Friday as saying Turkey was not a European country and its entry into the EU would be "the end of the European Union."
Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, president of the Convention on the Future of Europe, told the newspaper Le Monde that those who backed Ankara's candidacy were "the adversaries of the European Union."
The European Commission swiftly dissociated itself from the comments, which heightened controversy within the 15-nation bloc over the EU's eventual borders once it concludes accession talks with 10 mainly east European candidates next month.
Alluding obliquely to its Muslim population and high birth rate, Giscard said Turkey had "a different culture, a different approach, a different way of life" and its demographic dynamism would make it the biggest EU member state.
"Its capital is not in Europe, 95 percent of its population live outside Europe, it is not a European country," he said.
Admitting Turkey would go "outside the continent" and prompt demands to admit other Middle Eastern and North African states, starting with Morocco.
Asked what the effect would be, he said: "In my opinion, it would be the end of the European Union."
A European Commission spokesman said the comments were Giscard's private opinion and the EU executive saw no reason to call into question Turkey's candidacy.
COMMISSION SAYS STRATEGY UNCHANGED
Officially recognized as a candidate for membership in 1999, Turkey is pressing for a date to begin accession talks when EU leaders hold a summit in Copenhagen next month to wrap up the next phase of enlargement.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of Turkey's newly elected Justice and Development Party (AKP), is to visit historic rival and fellow NATO member Greece on November 18 to discuss EU matters.
Brussels has so far refused to open negotiations with Ankara because its human rights record does not meet EU criteria.
Commission spokesman Jean-Christophe Filori said EU leaders had set a strategy for Turkey's candidacy in 1999 and "as long as this same strategy isn't called into question by the heads of state and government, it remains in force."
He said the strategy had been successful in prompting democratic and human rights reforms, citing laws passed in August abolishing the death penalty in peacetime and authorizing private broadcasting and education in the Kurdish language.
Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said this week that if the AKP wanted to show it was serious about speeding up Turkey's EU bid, it should start by stamping out torture, freeing all political prisoners and bringing torturers to justice.
Giscard's comments reflected in blunt language what many EU politicians whisper privately, but they come at a particularly delicate time when Brussels needs Turkey's cooperation to try to solve several problems related to enlargement.
It is seeking Ankara's support for a U.N.-brokered effort to resolve the division of Cyprus before the country joins the bloc in 2004, and it needs Turkish assent to arrangements giving Europe's embryonic rapid reaction force access to NATO military planning and assets for EU crisis management operations.
I agree and have stated that here before. However, this article provides the first reason I've seen that cuts the other way. If admitting Turkey kills the EU, that would be a nice development.
But what will Valery do in a few years when Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands have become Muslim nations with high birth rates?
And what about France? It will be majority Muslim before long.
It's a member of NATO, probably the most valuable one other than England.
It is a western country.
I think Turkey should refuse to join that stupid union. But that's just me.
P.S.: The Marine song celebrates the voctory over the Turk, ...to the shores of Tripoli
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