More bad news for Turkey
Angelos Marcopoulos reports from Strasbourg
More bad news for Turkey on accession negotiations
A RESOLUTION adopted yesterday by the EU Parliament's plenary, added to a series of EU warnings to Turkey that as long as it persists in failing to respect commitments on human rights and Cyprus, this inevitably affects the pace of its entry negotiations.
The resolution tabled underlines the importance of concluding the accession negotiations with Croatia, as soon as possible", while it does not mention Turkey.
On the contrary, in a draft resolution on Turkey, passed earlier this week by EU Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, MEPs refused to erase the observation that EU negotiations with Turkey are "a long-lasting and open-ended process", clearly rejecting an amendment to omit this point.
MEPs refused an amendment that stated that "the objective of those negotiations is Turkish EU membership", and appeared astonishingly divided on whether negotiations should only strengthen the EU's ties with Turkey.
For the first time, this last, crucial point approached a majority, missing it by a narrow margin of one - 27 to 28 - as observed the Foreign Affairs Committee's President, Polish MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski.
At a Press Conference, committee vice-Chairman, German Liberal MEP Alexander Lambsdorf, said: "Turkey is not moving as fast as we'd like to see. This is a matter of long discussions. We do not want only small changes. We need real changes."
"This is keeping the negotiations process very slow."
Slovenian Minister for EU Affairs and EU chairman, Janez Lenarcic, told The Cyprus Weekly: "It does not depend only on the EU side, but also on the Turkish side, particularly in fulfilling its own commitments."
Last-minute
Meanwhile, in a last-minute amendment, reacting to the recent visit of Turkish General Buyukanit to occupied Cyprus,
MEPs called for Turkey "to ensure that democratic political leadership bears full responsibility for domestic, foreign and security policy, including Cyprus, and that the Armed Forces respect this civilian responsibility."
Cyprus MEP Panayiotis Demetriou, introducing this amendment, informed the EU Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, that "when we started in Cyprus to prepare talks, two Turkish generals came to the island, and provoked problems.”
MEPs rejected another amendment, pushed by the Turkish lobby, regarding the so-called "isolation" of Turkish Cypriots.
Ignoring Rights Court could hit accession talks
TURKEY'S persistent failure to respect ECHR's rulings on Greek Cypriot refugees' homes and properties in the occupied areas may affect Ankara's EU negotiations, EU Leaders said this week.
As Greek Cypriot refugee John Demades was posthumously awarded record damages this week for the loss of the enjoyment of his property the ECHR explicitly reiterated its findings in the Loizidou case that displaced Greek Cypriots cannot be deemed to have lost the title to their property, and that the compensation to be awarded by this Court in such cases “is confined to losses arising from the denial of access and loss of control, use and enjoyment of his property".
The ECHR, by awarding έ835,000 in the Demades case, clearly dismissed Turkey's claims regarding an offer from the controversial "Property Commission" set up in the occupied territories, which was limited ito "restoration" only "after the settlement of the Cyprus problem" or an exchange with a T/C property located in the free areas of the Republic....
Rejected
The court rejected an attempt by Turkish judge Metin Hakki to have the case dropped because the plaintiff had died.
Hakki claimed that, since John Demades had died, his family should be excluded from any compensation
British Conservative MEP Charles Tannock told The Cyprus Weekly: "If Turkey has not yet met even its elementary Human Rights commitments vis-a-vis the CoE, where it has been a member for decades, how can it claim to become also an EU Member?";
The Slovenian EU Affairs Minister Janez Lenarcic said: "Negotiations continue between the EU and Turkey. We would like to see that during the Slovenian Presidency it will be possible to open some more chapters. "But this does not depend only on the EU side, but also on the Turkish side, particularly in fulfilling its own commitments, in order to make progress
The parliament’s president, Hans-Gert Poettering said that respect for ECHR judgements is "part of the negotiation process."
"We are asking all States, including Turkey, to respect human rights, and if there are violations of human rights in a country, we are asking the country to fulfil the criteria and to respect human rights :"
French ‘priority’ on judgements
THE upcoming French presidency will make it a ‘priority’ for the judgements of a court in one member state to be more easily applied in another.
France's Minister of Justice, Rachida Dati took this position in reply to a question from The Cyprus Weekly.
This would mean that judgements in Cyprus courts - such as in the Orams case - could be more easily executed in other countries.
The move is part of France's larger wish to develop a "common European justice area," Dati explained.
No reps from the north
DEMANDS by an MEP of Turkish origin that the occupied areas be represented in the EU Parliament were dismissed out of hand by his colleagues this week.
Greens MEP Cem Ozdemir made the statement at a press conference this week.
"I am sceptical about the EU Parliament's role (in defence of human rights in Cyprus) because it has only MEPs from the South.
"So, it's high time to have for example two Turkish Cypriot representatives”, Ozdemir said.
Christian Democrat MEP Elmar Brok reacted: "It's impossible. That's nonsense. There is not even a legal framework for such a thing, so, it's excluded."
French MEP Francis Wurtz also described it as impossible. "Only if there is a comprehensive Solution of Cyprus' issue, we might, then, have here (in the EU Parliament) some representatives from the northern part of Cyprus.
But this implies, in my view, that Turkey's military forces will be withdrawn from Cyprus."
http://www.cyprusweekly.com.cy/default.aspx?FrontPageNewsID=304_7
Here you go copperline...now go ahead and tell me if the PC is honoring these judgements when "turkey=fascist state" totally ignores them...
As Greek Cypriot refugee John Demades was posthumously awarded record damages this week for the loss of the enjoyment of his property the ECHR explicitly reiterated its findings in the Loizidou case that displaced Greek Cypriots cannot be deemed to have lost the title to their property, and that the compensation to be awarded by this Court in such cases “is confined to losses arising from the denial of access and loss of control, use and enjoyment of his property".
And VP please tell how many cheques has the PC forked out in tune in of the above judgements
All in all a few whamies there for the fascist state...and they say they want full membership in 7 to 8 years...
