Mixed-student homes concern of students and families, EU says

ANKARA

European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle addresses a news conference on the 2013 enlargement package at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels in October. REUTERS photo

The European Union has underlined that the issue of choosing mixed-sex accommodation should be left down to students and their families, recalling that the “core element of the recent democratization package was the protection of the lifestyles and private choices of every citizen.”

“We recall that a core element of the recent democratization package announced by the prime minister himself was the protection of lifestyles and private choices of every citizen. This is an element that we wholeheartedly welcomed,” Peter Stano, spokesperson of Stefan Füle, EU Commissioner for Enlargement, said in a written statement on Nov. 6.

“The choice on the matter should in principle be one exercised by the students and their families. To our knowledge, there are no European standards regulating the matter, and there are different practices among EU Member States or even within each member state. This is an issue which primarily the Turkish society needs to solve, on the basis of an inclusive consultation process integrating the views of all stakeholders concerned,” Stano stressed.

Füle is set to arrive in Turkey on Nov. 7, only a few days after the EU opened a negotiation chapter with Turkey after a break of nearly three years.