Andrew Duff supports Turkish membership negotiation

1.08.24pm GMT Mon 13th Dec 2004

As the European Union decides this week on whether to open accession negotiations with Turkey, East of England Liberal Democrat MEP has come out firmly in favour.

In a speech to the European Parliament at Strasbourg tonight, Andrew Duff will say:

"I strongly support Turkey's efforts to join the European Union. It has made big strides recently towards becoming a genuine liberal democracy and an enterprising market economy. Turkey has huge strategic importance both for securing Europe's energy supplies and in projecting a role for the European Union in the Middle East and in the Gulf.

"Turkey is a long-standing member of NATO and has been a good ally to Britain.

"The prize for Europe of being able to integrate successfully with a Muslim democracy would be immense.

"Essential elements in the Turkish reform programme are settling the dispute with Kurdish separatists and continuing to encourage a healing of the partition of Cyprus according to the UN Security Council's plan.

"The negotiations will take up to ten years to complete. Only once the preparations for membership are complete will either Turkey or the EU be in a good position to decide finally whether Turkey's future lies elsewhere or firmly within the European family. I believe it will be the latter."

Andrew Duff MEP, who is a long-standing Vice-President of the European Parliament's delegation to Turkey, will warn member states not to break faith with Turkey. He will add:

"There will be safeguards for the EU built into the accession process. But nobody should expect Turkey to accept unreasonable or unscrupulous demands that are not being asked of other candidates for membership, such as Romania or Croatia."

ENDS/...

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Andrew Duff supports Turkish membership negotiation

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