Brussels, 22/10/2004 (Agence Europe) -At the opening of the Greens/EFA European Parliament conference on Turkey in Istanbul on 19-22 October , co president Daniel Cohn-Bendit affirmed that the request from the country's EU accession did not mean equal treatment with other candidates should be sought, but rather, "special treatment ", because its integration into the Union cannot be compared with that of Malta, Bulgaria or Bosnia. Co-president Monica Frassoni said that Turkey's accession to the EU would create a strong alliance with those who want more democracy in Turkey and those who want more democracy in the Union: deepening of European political integration is necessary if the EU at 27 or 28 members is to work, remarked the Italian MEP. Movements struggling for more democracy in Turkey “is our fight” exclaimed Cem Özdemir, a German Green of Turkish descent. Joost Lagendijk, president of the EP/Turkish Grand Assembly delegation warned that if relations were to be healthy with their friends “we have to have the right to voice criticism” and cited women's rights, freedom of the press, torture and treatment of the Kurdish, Armenian and Christian communities.
At the other end of the spectrum, Johannes Voggenhüber during the debates opposed Turkey's access to the EU.