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Fischer: Turkey in EU Would Challenge Totalitarian Ideas
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer compared the significance of having Turkey become a modernized Islamic country, based on European shared values, to a “D-Day in the war against terror.” In an interview on BBC radio on October 20, Fischer spoke about the prospect of Turkey joining the European Union; the need, in the context of an enlarged EU, for a European constitution; and the strategic significance for the EU of enlarging its borders into the region. Fischer spoke of the potential for Turkey’s “strategic bridge function” in the Arab and Islamic world as a part of Europe. “Now they have the real opportunity to modernize,” Fischer said. “To modernize an Islamic country based on the shared values of Europe would be, I think, almost a D-Day in the war against terror. It would be the greatest positive challenge for the totalitarian and terrorist ideas. Germany has long expressed its support for EU accession negotiations, if Turkey meets the relevant political criteria, and the German government welcomed the decision on October 6 by the European Commission to recommend that the EU start membership negotiations with Turkey. Foreign Minister Fischer reiterated this support in the BBC interview. Europe should stick to the promises it has made to Turkey since 1963, for denying membership to Turkey, a large Islamic country with strong democratic and economic potential, would have very negative consequences, Fischer said. Europe, including those countries which are skeptical of a European constitution, should also consider the effect for the EU of having Turkey join an EU with weak institutions and a weak democratic process. Both Turkey’s membership and the European constitution should be promoted, Fischer said. October 20, 2004 Links
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