AGL 38.18 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-0.57%)
AIRLINK 142.98 Increased By ▲ 7.98 (5.91%)
BOP 5.07 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.39%)
CNERGY 3.77 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.53%)
DCL 7.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.4%)
DFML 44.48 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.07%)
DGKC 76.25 Decreased By ▼ -1.15 (-1.49%)
FCCL 26.95 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.26%)
FFBL 52.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.97 (-1.83%)
FFL 8.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.23%)
HUBC 125.51 Increased By ▲ 1.71 (1.38%)
HUMNL 9.99 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.5%)
KEL 3.74 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.27%)
KOSM 8.15 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.87%)
MLCF 34.75 Increased By ▲ 1.05 (3.12%)
NBP 58.71 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (0.38%)
OGDC 154.50 Increased By ▲ 4.55 (3.03%)
PAEL 25.15 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (1.82%)
PIBTL 5.93 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.37%)
PPL 118.31 Increased By ▲ 6.66 (5.97%)
PRL 24.38 Increased By ▲ 0.48 (2.01%)
PTC 12.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-0.83%)
SEARL 56.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.89 (-1.56%)
TELE 7.05 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.71%)
TOMCL 34.99 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-0.46%)
TPLP 6.98 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.99%)
TREET 13.98 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-1.27%)
TRG 46.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-0.28%)
UNITY 26.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.31%)
WTL 1.21 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 8,822 Increased By 86.7 (0.99%)
BR30 26,723 Increased By 466.7 (1.78%)
KSE100 83,532 Increased By 810.2 (0.98%)
KSE30 26,710 Increased By 328 (1.24%)

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan warned the European Union against becoming a "club of Christians" as he pushed Saturday for Ankara's membership in the bloc. "If the EU finds itself as a club of Christians.... it is against the very soul of the EU," Babacan told reporters on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
EU heavyweights France and Germany are both opposed to full Turkish membership, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been particularly vocal on the issue, arguing that the mainly Muslim country does not belong in Europe. Babacan regretted that the issue of religion had apparently become a factor in the debate on Turkey's accession.
"Religious lines should never be presented as a border," he said, adding that the current 27-nation composition of the European bloc already contained "huge differences" in terms of culture, religion and language.
"Yet, these countries have been successful to find communality," he said. "At the end of the road, the decision has to be made over whether Turkey is going to add new richness to the EU, so that the EU has a truly global voice and a truly representative voice," he added.
Babacan also argued that allowing Turkey into the EU would allow the bloc to act as a bridge between the West and the Islamic world. France and Germany have proposed offering a "privileged partnership" instead of full membership - a compromise flatly rejected earlier this month by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey has so far opened talks in six of the 35 policy fields that candidates are required to complete before accession. The EU froze negotiations on eight chapters in 2006 in response to Turkey's refusal to grant trade privileges to Cyprus, which Ankara does not recognise, under a customs union pact with the bloc.
Babacan also refuted worries that Turkey's powerful military - which has unseated four governments in as many decades - wants to scupper Ankara's EU, democratic and economic ambitions. Relations between the army and the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) party are fraught, with the military fearful that the prime minister wants to roll back Turkey's cherished secular state.
Babacan said that democracy and freedom are fast becoming so engrained that a return to an undemocratic military autocracy closed to the outside world "isn't even going to be an issue."
"The reform process is becoming more and more irreversible. After opening up (the country) so much, anyone who dares to close the country to any extent will get into serious difficulties," Babacan said. "This country ... has only one important way to go, and this is democratic. Human rights, freedoms and peace will be the new source of strength."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008

Comments

Comments are closed.