Ankara, 17/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Turkish Foreign Ministry reacted harshly to certain "unfortunate" claims set out in the resolution adopted by the European Parliament when closing the debate on the Morillon Report on EU/Turkey relations (see EUROPE of 16 November, pages 3 and 4), accusing Parliament of "casting judgements on Turkish history and culture", and predicting that these claims "will be exploited by those attempting to have a negative influence on Euro-Turkish relations". In particular, the press release from the ministry cites:
- The paragraph on the "so-called Armenian genocide" which "harms" relations that should be developing between Turkey and the European Parliament, at a time when "the memory of the suffering engendered by Armenian terrorism is still alive in Turkish public opinion". "At no time in its history has the Turkish nation committed crimes against humanity such as genocide", and there was "neither genocide against the Armenians, nor order of genocide", says the statement;
- The passage on the "Kurdish issue", stating that "there is no issue of that nature in Turkey", where there are no minorities "other than those defined by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne". All Turkish citizens, "including the said minorities", benefit, according to the Constitution, from equal rights, freedoms and responsibilities, the ministry declares;
- The problem of Cyprus, recalling that "we are opposed to any linkage being made between Euro-Turkey relations and the Cypriot issue" (see in yesterday's EUROPE, p.4, for the letter by Prime minister Ecevit on the issue). The Turkish Foreign ministry, moreover, energetically rejects the reference, in Parliament's resolution, to Turkish "occupation forces" of which the MEPs demanded their withdrawal, and states: "Turkey, as one of Cyprus' guarantor countries, undertook in that context its 1974 Peace Operation, basing itself on international rights and obligations", and the Turkish units currently deployed in "The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" are on a mission on the island "to prevent the repetition of the massacres perpetrated by the Greek Cypriots against the Turkish part in the 60s".
