EU urges charter compromise

BRUSSELS - Anatolia News Agency

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The Turkish government and opposition should pursue constructive relations that avoid disputes as a precondition for a reform process, the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) has said in a new report on the country.

The committee also called for a civil constitution in Turkey in its draft report approved yesterday.
A draft report by the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, Ria Oomen-Ruijten, was approved with 54 votes to seven at AFET yesterday.

The report underlined the concern over an official notice sent to the Justice Ministry by a prosecutor to initiate the process of filing a case against Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The draft report also warned Turkey on long detention and trial periods. Meanwhile, the controversial case on the murder of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was also mentioned in the draft, with the EP calling on Turkey to investigate the matter in its entirety while also bringing whoever is responsible to justice.

The draft report said all political parties and relevant parties should assist the drafting of the new constitution and assume a constructive attitude on the matter.

Meanwhile, some attempts by far-right and far-left deputies in the European Parliament to add articles about Armenian genocide allegations to the draft have failed.

The draft report also said that Turkey, as a regional actor, played a key role in the Middle East, West Balkans, South Caucasus, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia and Horn of Africa.

“Turkey and the EU are interdependent. The EU profits from the booming Turkish economy. But Turkey and the EU can both profit by enhancing their cooperation in fields like foreign policy, energy security and the fight against terrorism. Turkey has proved that it is able to play a positive role in a turbulent region,” said Oomen-Ruijten.