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Press ConfErence
Turkey’s accession to the EU – Blind spot for the European Union
Non-Muslim minorities in Turkey as targets of a recent hate campaign
Wednesday, September 22,
2004, 14:00
Residence Palace –
International Press Center
Rue de la Loi 155, 1040,
Brussels, Salle « Passage ».
Embargo until 14:00, 22
September 2004
Brussels, September 14, 2004
Will the European Commission, in its report of
October 6, 2004, consider Turkey as « ready » for the EU accession? Will
the European Council start the negotiations for Turkey’s accession to the
EU at the end of this year?
In recent years, Turkey has
made certain legal and administrative progress. Nevertheless, at the same
time, it has significantly hardened its position towards fundamental
rights, such as the freedom of opinion and has adopted a repressive policy
towards the minorities living in Turkey. In particular, traditional
prejudice towards Non-Muslim minorities is kept alive by the public
education system and the state controlled media. Such an attitude,
however, is incompatible with the Copenhagen criteria required for
accession negotiations of a new member State.
In this regard, a Memorandum,
initiated by the Working Group Recognition – Against Genocide, for
International Understanding (Berlin)
and the Switzerland-Armenia Association (Bern),
was submitted to the attention of the European Council, Council of the
European Union, members of the European Commission and European
Parliament. Recalling the Copenhagen Criteria, the Memorandum explains the
concern of the signatories for a lasting improvement of the minority
situation in Turkey. The dozens of national and international NGOs which
signed this Memorandum protest against the hate campaign of Turkey’s
minister for education, Dr. Hüseyin Çelik, which includes the official
denial of the genocide, committed on the Christian population of the
Ottoman Empire and resulting in 3.5 million victims (1912-1922). For this
reason, the signatories want to draw the EU’s attention to the necessity
of safeguards and profound reforms in the education system and in media
control, for public education and mass media are the main “opinion
leaders” and directly responsible for an extremely negative perception of
these minorities in Turkey and for subsequent attacks on institutions
(churches, synagogues, schools and representatives of Non-Muslim
communities), which did not even cease during Turkey’s reform process of
late.
The Assembly of Armenians of
Europe, together with the initiators of the Memorandum are inviting you to
the Press Conference for the presentation of the above mentioned document.
Speakers to the Press
Conference (by alphabetical order):
§
Mister Baastian
Belder,
Independence/Democracy Group,
Member of the European
Parliament, Netherlands
§
Mister Michalis
Charalambidis,
writer, member of the Central Committee of the International League for
the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, expert on the genocide of Greeks
in Pontos, Athens;
§
Baroness Caroline
Cox of Queensbury,
Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, United Kingdom, Chairperson of the
Christian Solidarity Worldwide, London;
§
Ms. Hülya Engin,
Committee member of TÜDAY, organization for the defence of human
rights in Turkey and Germany, Cologne;
§
Dr. Tessa Hofmann,
scholar of Armenian studies and sociology; scientific documentarist at the
Free University of Berlin; writer, human rights activist; chairperson of
the Working Group Recognition – Against Genocide, for International
Understanding;
§
Monsieur Johny
Messo, chairman of
the Foundation Study Centre Aramea, main representative of the Syriac
Universal Alliance (SUA) to the United Nations Office in Geneva;
§
Prof. Dr. Yves
Ternon, doctor,
historian and writer, researcher and expert in genocide studies, in
particular the genocide of Armenians and its denial, Paris.
Mr. Nicolas Tavitian, expert
in international political relations, Brussels, will assume the role of
the moderator.
Simultaneous translating from
English and French is offered.
A welcome coffee is offered
at 13 :30 at the entrance to the salle "Passage", Résidence Palace.
Arminé Grigoryan
Assembly of Armenians of
Europe
In charge of the European
Union Contact and Information Office
Brussels
All the documentation
regarding the Memorandum will be available in the following web sites from
14:00,
22 September 2004
(in English and
French; some documents are also available in German):
http://www.aga-online.org/de/aktionen/index.php
http://www.armenian.ch
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