WRITTEN QUESTION E-0707/05 by Frank Vanhecke (NI) to the Council
Subject: Admission by Turkey of the genocide against the Armenians
Despite repeated urging by the European Parliament and various countries, Turkey refuses to admit that the genocide against the Armenians took place. Indeed, even to teach about this 'episode' is a criminal offence. In January 2005, the Turks, represented by a consul, even intervened in the German federal state of Brandenburg to secure the deletion of a reference to this genocide from curricula. In 2000/2001, Turkish diplomats had the temerity to try to prevent the erection of a statue of Johannes Lepsius, the chronicler of the Armenian genocide (Dieter Salzmann, 'Erfolgreicher türkischer Einspruch in Brandenburg', Die Welt, 26 January 2005).
Coarse statements by Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan rightly caused a considerable stir in France. Erdogan literally said to French MPs that he did not know that 400 000 Armenians could prevent Turkey's accession in a referendum on that accession. France's Minister of Industry, Mr Patrick Devedjian, said that he was shocked, observing, 'In a sense, Erdogan seems to consider it regrettable that there are still 400 000 surviving Armenians in France'. France's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Barnier, said in December 2004 that the Armenian question must be resolved before the accession negotiations could begin ('Armenien spaltet Ankara und Paris', Die Presse, 8 February 2005).
Mrs Sylvie Goulard, professor at the College of Europe in Bruges and a former adviser to former Commission President Romano Prodi, rightly points out that Turkey's refusal to admit that the genocide took place and to condemn it makes it very clear that the country cannot function in a European Union based on the general principles of the law (universal legal principles, the rule of law) as a whole (Sylvie Goulard, Le Grand Turc et la République de la Venise, Paris: Fayard, 2004, p. 106).
Is the Council aware of Turkey's intervention in Brandenburg? Does the Council agree with Mrs Goulard's statement? Should not the Armenian genocide be acknowledged before accession negotiations begin? If not, when and how will this issue be dealt with?
556848.EN PE 354.959