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Turkish Daily News Online...FOREIGN NEWS
6 February 2004

Denktas ponders next step to take
Wolfowitz says terror failed to destabilize Turkey
Khan to visit Turkey
UPI: Eleven Turks at Guantanamo base
Prodi: EC will objectively assess Turkey
Azerbaijan FM: Peace in South Caucasus in Turkey's interest
Quijera: Turkey should join the International Criminal Court
Gul addresses European Christian Democrats

Annan: Talks on Feb. 10, referenda on April 21 Denktas ponders next step to take

Despite Turkish objections Alvaro de Soto is back on the scene as 'broker'

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan sticking firm on his declared conditions for the resumption of Cyprus talks stirred Ankara Thursday despite a summit decision on Wednesday to "back" the U.N. chief's efforts for a Cyprus resolution.

President Denktas, Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat and Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Serdar Denktas postponed their return to Cyprus for "evaluations" on the letter of Annan calling for the resumption of Cyprus talks in New York on Feb. 10.

"I have received the letter of the secretary-general and evaluating it now. We have decided to prolong our Ankara stay as we may need to have consultations with the Turkish government as well," said Denktas with a somber face, vividly demonstrating his upset with seeing Annan sticking firm on the preconditions he had laid for the resumption of the talks.

According to well-placed diplomatic sources, after his meeting with Annan at Davos earlier this month, Erdogan had the impression that the secretary-general might show some flexibility particularly on his demand that the two sides on Cyprus must agree before his call for the resumption of the talks to commit themselves to submit to separate referenda on a U.N. plan "irrespective of the outcome" of the talks "by a date certain" in April.

While Turkish and Turkish Cypriot officials refused to disclose details of the letter of Annan to Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos, the official Greek Cypriot radio reported that Annan has asked the leaders to go to New York on Feb. 10 for a "half day session" that will demonstrate their acceptance of all the conditions and continue talks in Nicosia until March 25 and submit the accord to separate referenda on April 21.

Despite Turkish Cypriot complaints that they have lost trust in Peruvian diplomat Alvaro de Soto and that he should be replaced, the Greek Cypriot radio also quoted Annan writing to Papadopoulos that de Soto would be back on the scene as the special envoy of the secretary-general.

Annan's spokesman said late Wednesday the secretary-general had written to Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos, inviting them to New York on Feb. 10 to resume negotiations on his reunification plan. The object, he said, would be "to put a completed text to referenda in April, in time for a reunited Cyprus to accede the European Union on May 1." The spokesman said Annan had also written to Erdogan, and his Greek counterpart, Costas Simitis, "asking them to have representatives on hand in New York for that occasion." According to Greek Cypriot media reports, Annan has also invited United States and Britain, the third guarantor power for Cyprus together with Greece and Turkey, to send "observers" to the talks. President Denktas reacted to those reports Thursday saying there was no need for having European Union, or American observers at the Cyprus talks. He said such observers could make an accord further difficult. "There is no need for observers. Having observers was not proved to be useful in our past experiences," he said. Still, Washington will reportedly dispatch Assistant Secretary of State Marc Grossman as observer to the Cyprus talks that will continue at a U.N. compound on the Nicosia buffer zone "within days after a short session on Feb. 10 in New York. Annan was prompted to take the initiative, his spokesman said, "by his recent, encouraging contacts on the Cyprus question during his trip to Europe and afterwards. "In his letter, the secretary-general appealed to the leaders to summon the political will needed to bring about this result in the short time available," said the spokesman. "He has also set out what needs to be done for this to happen."

The previously disclosed four conditions of Annan for the resumption of the talks were:

1- The sides on Cyprus must demonstrate their goodwill;

2- The sides must conform with the schedule of the talks (accord by March 25, referendum on April 21);

3- The sides must agree to allow the secretary-general to resolve outstanding issues; and

4- The sides must declare their acceptance of submitting the settlement plan to referenda by a date certain.

Well-placed sources said a second summit, either at the Cankaya Palace with the participation of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer also, or a second summit at the official residence of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was expected to be held late last night or early today to "evaluate" the situation after Annan's letter before President Denktas could spell out his decision whether he would travel to New York.

Meeting Wednesday afternoon with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul for over two hours, Denktas and leaders of the two-way pro-settlement coalition government of northern Cyprus pledged to back U.N. Secretary-General Annan in his efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem.

"Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) have agreed to jointly contribute to, and to back the secretary-general's efforts," said a statement issued by Erdogan's office after the talks. Erdogan said he briefed Denktas about talks he held last week with U.N. Secretary-General Annan and with President George W. Bush, during an official visit to the United States, on the situation on the Mediterranean island.

Foreign Minister Gul brushed aside speculations that Denktas might step down as representative of the Turkish Cypriot side at the talks, declaring, "President Denktas will definitely be participating in the process." Well-placed sources within the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), however, were quoted in the Turkish media over the past two weeks as saying that "We want to continue exploring a Cyprus settlement with Denktas as head of the Turkish Cypriot team. But, our strong will for a Cyprus accord should not be undermined either. If President Denktas decides to stay away from the process, with all our respect to the historic personality of Denktas, we would not mind continuing with Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat as the head of the negotiating team."

Well-placed Turkish Cypriot political sources, on the other hand, said it was very unlikely for President Denktas to step down as negotiator because of the domestic political implications such a move would create in Turkey as well as back at home in northern Cyprus. While Prime Minister Erdogan would suffer a serious political setback with Denktas stepping down, such a move would mean collapse of the Turkish Cypriot coalition government and a government crisis in northern Cyprus.

The junior partner of the Turkish Cypriot coalition, the Democrat Party (DP) of Serdar Denktas, the son of President Denktas, had declared back at the formation of the two-way government that continuation of the veteran leader as negotiator was "unquestionable."
US wants to 'settle in' Cyprus
Meanwhile, the American administration, which has been lately "deeply engaged" in Cyprus settlement efforts, is claimed to be trying to establish a military presence on the strategic eastern Mediterranean island, a private news channel reported Thursday.

According to the private NTV news channel, Washington considers Cyprus a "strategically important place" because of its proximity to the oil fields of the Middle East, the Caucasus and Africa, as well as for the security of the Baku-Ceyhan oil corridor.

The private news channel reported that the Strategic Planning Department of the American European Forces Command was considering Cyprus "important" for the strengthening of the political and strategic presence of the United States in the region that has come under the control of the European Union with the EU accession of the eastern Mediterranean island.

NTV said, the U.S. which has been planning to cut down its existing European bases and establish new bases in Poland, Bulgaria and Romania with small but highly mobile units and which is in talks with the Turkish government for permission to use a second base besides the Incirlik, was after having a military presence in Cyprus. An American base on Cyprus would increase the U.S. "emergency intervention capabilities" in the Caucasus, Middle East and Central Asia and boost its preemptive strike capability besides enabling it to have a "security belt" in the area, said NTV.

The channel also claimed that besides Turkey, Britain and Greece, the U.S. was after becoming the fourth guarantor power for Cyprus, a status that would give it a say in the resolution of future problems on the island.

Reacting to such reports Thursday, President Denktas said there was no need for American military presence on Cyprus. He said security of Turkish Cypriots could only be provided by Turkish troops and he did not believe American troops would die in order to protect Turkish Cypriots.
Wolfowitz says terror failed to destabilize Turkey ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
Terrorists linked to the al-Qaeda network attempted to destabilize Turkey when they attacked British targets and two synagogues in Istanbul last year but they failed to achieve their goal, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz was quoted as saying.

"I don't think they're going to succeed, just as they haven't succeeded in destabilizing Turkey with those terrible attacks earlier," Wolfowitz said in northern Iraq, where suicide attacks last week against offices of two Iraqi Kurdish parties left dozens dead.

Wolfowitz, speaking to reporters in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, said attacks on the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) showed that "the viciousness is dramatic and the determination to try to disrupt progress in this country is dramatic."

Suicide attacks against synagogues and British targets in Istanbul in November left more than 60 people dead. The attacks were blamed on a Turkish radical group linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

In a separate statement to the Armed Forces Network, Wolfowitz said terrorist attacks against different targets across the world had created hatred among peoples of the world, citing Turkey as an example.

He said terrorists failed to achieve their goals in attacks in Turkey, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, but, on the contrary, angered the people. "Turks are more united than ever against terrorism," Wolfowitz said.
Khan to visit Turkey

Amnesty International Secretary-General Irene Khan to visit Turkey this weekend to meet Turkish officials

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
Irene Khan will visit Turkey between Feb. 8-14 and hold talks on human rights issues with government officials as well as with members of nongovernmental organizations.

"Turkey is currently going through a period of unprecedented legislative reform primarily aimed at satisfying the pre-accession requirements of the European Union. The challenge now must be to ensure that these reforms are carried through into daily practice," stressed Khan.

The Amnesty International (AI) delegation will arrive in Istanbul on Feb. 8, and meet Turkish NGOs and victims of human right abuses to obtain further details about current human rights violations in Turkey. The delegation will be in Ankara on Tuesday and be received by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. It is expected that Irene Khan will hold a press conference after she meets the prime minister on Feb. 12. After the visits in Ankara, the delegation will go to Diyarbakir on Feb. 13 to meet with local NGOs and groups supporting more rights for women.

According to AI, although encouraging the legal reforms introduced by the current government aimed at bringing Turkish law into line with European human rights standards with the aim of meeting the criteria for accession to the European Union, many prisoners of conscience continued to face trial or imprisonment, particularly for expressing opinions on the Kurdish question or the high-security "F-type" prisons, or for expressing Islamist views. Moreover, some of the legal changes made are ambiguous and insufficient in tackling the human rights abuses they were supposed to address. Furthermore, the changes were often not implemented in practice. Torture in police custody remained widespread and is practiced systematically in the Anti-Terror branches of police stations; and the perpetrators are rarely brought to justice.

The AI delegation will be headed by Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International in Germany Barbara Lochbihler, Amnesty International in Turkey Chairman Ozlem Dalkiran and members of the International Secretariat in London Nicola Duckworth, Program Director of Europe and Central Asia Emma Sinclair Webb, James Logan, Christina Curry: Turkish Research Team and External Relations Adviser Judit Arenas.
UPI: Eleven Turks at Guantanamo base ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
A report by American United Press International (UPI) said there are 11 Turkish nationals among an estimated 650 terror suspects at the U.S. Naval Base prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Guantanamo has been used to hold detainees since January 2002, when U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan were at their peak. With all of the detainees having been arrested in Afghanistan, many have been held at Guantanamo for nearly two years.

The UPI news agency said the report about the nationalities of the detainees at the prison camp was prepared by the agency itself and the Pentagon did not reveal a detailed report on the issue.

The agency said they determined nationalities of 619 out of 650 detainees, adding there were people from 38 different countries in the camp.

According to the, UPI, the country that has the highest number of detainees is Saudi Arabia with 160 detainees. The report by the UPI said 85 of the terror suspects are from Yemen, 82 from Pakistan, 80 from Afghanistan, 30 from Egypt and Jordan, 19 from Algeria and 18 from Morocco.

The report said there are 11 Turkish citizens at the camp, the agency didn't reveal the names of the detainees.

In the camp, there are also people from Denmark, Germany, Iraq, Bangladesh, Belgium, Denmark, Iraq, Libya and Spain.

Interrogations of the detainees, whose status as indefinitely held "enemy combatants" are ongoing, and military officials maintain that key intelligence continues to be gleaned from them.

Legal and human rights organizations are increasingly questioning the legal basis on which these detentions continue.
Prodi: EC will objectively assess Turkey ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
The European Commission will be objective on its assessments over Turkey's bid to join the European Union, Commission's President Romano Prodi was quoted as saying on Thursday.

The Commission's report, expected to be issued this autumn, will have a substantial impact on the final decision of the EU leaders when they meet in December 2004 to decide whether or not to open accession talks with Turkey.

Prodi, who last month became the first EU Commission president to visit Turkey in 40 years, assured during talks with Turkish leaders that Turkey's membership performance would receive a fair and objective assessment by the Commission.

Turkey, an EU candidate since 1999, wants to get the go-ahead to start accession talks from the union in the December summit. The Commission's previous reports have highlighted Turkey's deficiencies in meeting membership standards of the union, especially in the field of human rights.

"The decision to declare Turkey as a candidate has been made long time ago. The Commission's duty is to judge whether Turkey fulfills the Copenhagen Criteria or not. I made a promise -- the Commission will be highly objective in fulfilling this duty," Prodi told Belgium's La Libre Belgique newspaper.
Le Figaro: European right split over Turkey's bid
Prodi's comments come amid a heated debate among European conservative parties over Turkey's bid to join the EU.

A commentary published in French Le Figaro newspaper said that the European right-wing parties were divided over the issue, as one group of politicians from Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Greek conservative parties supported a membership perspective for Turkey, while others from German and French parties opposed.

Conservative parties from across Europe were holding a two-day conference in Brussels. The newspaper said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had to cancel his plans to attend the gathering at the last minute after it became clear that German Christian Democrats opposed his participation.

"Turkish membership is one of the most heated issues," the newspaper quoted one EU Commission official as saying.
Azerbaijan FM: Peace in South Caucasus in Turkey's interest ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Vilayet Guliyev said on Thursday that peace and stability in the southern Caucasus was in the interest of Armenia and Turkey.

Accompanying Azerbaijani President Ilhan Aliyev on a three-day visit to Moscow, Guliyev told Russian daily Nevavisimiya that the Karabag issue would be discussed during the visit.

When asked about his previous statements concerning the importance of Turkey participating in the solution of the Karabag issue, Guliyev said that Ankara had always used its influence in the region to solve the issue equitably. He said Turkey was proposing a three country foreign ministerial meeting to discuss the issue.
Quijera: Turkey should join the International Criminal Court

CICC European coordinator: The International Criminal Court does not conflict with the member countries' right of sovereignty; it works in complement with them

Salih Efe ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
Irune Agirizzabal Quijera, European coordinator for the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC), has said that Turkey is the only Council of Europe member that has not signed the Rome Statute, saying that this is not good for Turkey's appearance and that Turkey should adopt legislation in compliance with the statute.

Here is the full text of an exclusive Turkish Daily News interview conducted with Quijera:

TDN: What is the CICC and when was the organization set up?

QUIJERA: The CICC was set up in 1995; it is the umbrella organization for more than 2,000 nongovernmental organizations [NGOs] all around the world, created to establish the permanent International Criminal Court and now monitoring the process of ratification, universality, implementation and monitoring of the court.

TDN: What is your position within the ICC and the CICC?

QUIJERA: I am the European coordinator of the CICC and also responsible for this month's target country, namely Turkey's ratification campaign.

TDN: Do you have any relationship with the ICC itself?

QUIJERA: Well, I also work for the court, but I am not here representing the court. I am here in Turkey as European coordinator of the CICC.

TDN: Do you have a title within the court?

QUIJERA: Yes I do, but I prefer not to be related to the court here because it is judicial, and I am not making an institutional visit representing the ICC in Turkey.

TDN: Do the ICC and its member countries support your organization?

QUIJERA: Yes, absolutely, the Assembly of State Parties gave its approval to a resolution in September 2003 giving the NGO coalition a special status as coordinator and facilitator of the work before the assembly. One of things the coalition does is facilitate the participation of NGOs from around the world in the assembly. We provide materials, we facilitate accreditation before the United Nations and other places where the assembly will be meeting. So far it has been in New York, but now we will be in The Hague -- the negotiations and meetings will take place in The Hague. The coalition has had an incredible relationship with governments from around the world. There was a very interesting synergy between government, the NGOs and the United Nations, and so like-minded governments created a group called "The Friends of the ICC." We also go as observers. So we do have a very important relationship with the governments.

TDN: What is your purpose in Turkey?

QUIJERA: My purpose is to convince the authorities in Turkey of the importance of Turkey's accession to the ICC; that is the main purpose. We want two things: One is for Turkey to accede to the ICC, but Turkey should also implement legislation in compliance with the Rome Statute. They need to adopt laws in order to cooperate with the court, but they also need to include the crimes under the Rome Statute in the penal code. We know that the Penal Code is in the process of being drafted now, so we are telling them they should make sure that the crime of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are also included in the new penal code. We have learned, and I am very happy, that this process might be finalized in 2004. This is very important because Turkey will be expecting to obtain a date for the start of the negotiations from the EU at the end of 2004. I think this is very important to the EU, so if there are important advances in strengthening the mechanisms of justice in Turkey, this will clearly facilitate the process as well.

TDN: With whom have you already met, and with whom are you going to meet?

QUIJERA: We met with Turkish NGOs such as the Human Rights Association, Human Rights Foundation, Amnesty International, Mazlum Der, the Helsinki Citizens Assembly and the Association of Human Rights Agenda and so on. I met with the Foreign and Justice ministries, with all human rights commissions in Parliament, and with the president of the human rights committee, << Vahit Bicak>> . I also met with the representative of the EU in Turkey and with the German ambassador, and I am also going to meet with the Spanish ambassador. So the EU has adopted a common position on the ICC, and it is very important that the EU understands the importance of Turkey's ratification of the Rome Statute.

TDN: What do you aim to get from your visits here in Turkey?

QUIJERA: Turkey acceding to the Rome Statute and becoming a member of the ICC.

TDN: What has the EU approach towards the ICC been so far?

QUIJERA: They are the leading supporters of the ICC; without EU support we would not be here today. Of course, many other countries and nations are very supportive, but I think the EU member-countries were very intelligent when they adopted a common position on the ICC in 2001. This is why I can tell Turkish authorities that the EU attaches a lot of importance to the ICC.

TDN: What approaches have the candidate countries taken so far?

QUIJERA: All of them are members of the ICC; all of them signed the statute, including Bulgaria and Romania. All the candidate countries -- we are not talking about only the countries acceding in May. Croatia, which is going to be candidate, also ratified it. All the Balkan countries have signed the Rome Statute. The only country in the Council of Europe that did not sign is Turkey, and the only country that has not ratified yet is the Czech Republic, but they have signed. Turkey, however, has not signed yet.

TDN: Why do you think Turkey hasn't signed the Rome Statute? Was it due to political considerations?

QUIJERA: No, I think it was very unfortunate that Turkey did not sign it. They did not realize how important this issue was. The deadline for signature was the end of 2001, but only on Dec. 31, 2001 did the the United States, Israel and Iran sign. Turkey probably was not quick enough to affix its the signature; Turkey did not realize how important it was for them. Turkish delegations in the negotiations said they could not sign it because the Rome Statute did not cover the crime of terrorism.

The ICC will only have jurisdiction on "genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity", not on terrorism, because the delegations could not reach an agreement on terrorism. I think that has been the argument, but I don't think it is an argument any longer. In my meetings with the ministries, they did not raise this issue, so I am very happy about that. I think it is very interesting now. Also, I want to tell you that the Turkish Foreign Ministry has already asked to become a member of the group called "The Friends of the ICC," composed of approximately 40 states in the Assembly of State Parties, and it has been accepted. This gives an indication of the change in attitude of the government of Turkey towards the ICC. We are expecting this policy to be pursued more by Prime Minister Erdogan and by the Foreign Ministry, clarifying the position of Turkey.

TDN: Does the EU set ratification of the Rome Statute as a precondition for starting accession talks?

QUIJERA: I don't think it has been issued as a precondition to start negotiations, but I think if Turkey is finally given a date for starting the negotiation, it will be one of the issues at that point. The ICC is part of the acquis communitaire, so it is very important.

TDN: How is Turkey viewed in this regard?

QUIJERA: For the EU it is very important that Turkey become a member of the ICC.

TDN: What do you expect after your visit?

QUIJERA: On the political level, the ICC is not the top priority for Turkey; EU accession is the top priority for the Turkish government. The ICC is very important to the EU, so Turkey should link it to the EU process. But it is not so important that if they don't become a member of the ICC, the EU will not start negotiations; however, it is part of the same package. One of the packages that Turkey has to finalize before the end of 2004 is the reform of the penal code, and there Turkey has an opportunity to include the crimes under the Rome Statute, namely the crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. So there are links.

My expectations are: 1) I am happy because Turkey is member of "The Friends of the ICC." 2) I am still not satisfied because Turkey is not aligning itself in position for the ICC, so I think Turkey should make it clearer that they are supportive of the ICC. 3) Turkey should show that they are working on acceding to the ICC. On the legal level, they need to show there will be changes in the penal code. I think they need to start working with the EU partners to learn how they ratified and changed the constitution and the legislation. I am hopeful that this new government will understand that their being a member of the international community is very important and that 93 countries already are members of the ICC and that Turkey should be one of them.

TDN: I know 92 countries have ratified the Rome Statute, but which was the last one to do so?

QUIJERA: Georgia. And we expect Yemen to ratify and to be the 94th country to ratify the Rome Statute.

TDN: Do NGOs in Turkey support your activities and the ICC?

QUIJERA: Yes, they are going to create a coalition for the ICC, and they are going to be members of the international coalition.

TDN: How is your campaign of ratification doing worldwide?

QUIJERA: It is going well. The U.S. opposition to the ICC is challenging the universality effects of the ICC that the EU and the NGOs are trying to achieve. The United States approved legislation, the "American Service Member's Protection Act," which states, "The state parties that do not sign bilateral agreements granting immunity to U.S. officials will suffer sanctions from the U.S. administration." The United States has already sanctioned dozens of countries, and this is obviously affecting the ratification of the campaign. Although we think this is really damaging the court, we also think that the court is going to prove that it is credible and that it is working efficiently and that this is a necessary court, because this court has only one purpose, which is to end impunity and to make sure that the perpetrators of the worst crimes against humanity do not go unpunished. So this court does not conflict with countries' sovereignty; it works in complement with them. So only if Turkish courts are unwilling or unable to try those crimes, we do not think it will happen. That is why the penal code has to be amended; the ICC will step in and deal with those cases. So in general there is no reason to fear the ICC. The ICC is just an extension of national jurisdiction.

The attitude of countries like the United States is very damaging. The United States and Israel repudiated their signatures. The attitude of Iran is not bad. Iran has signed the statute, and there are signs that things could be happening in Iran. Yemen is going to ratify the statute, and Jordan and Djibouti have already signed. So in the Arab world the ICC is underrepresented, but we are working with those countries. Russia also signed the statute but has not yet ratified it. We think one of the main reasons for their attitude is the ongoing conflict in Chechnya, but there are signs that they support the ICC, and we are hoping that after the presidential election the ICC will again be on their agenda.

China is moving more positively towards the ICC. There was a conference on the ICC in China last year, and the government supported the ICC. China is not pleased with the U.S. attitude in the Security Council, where the U.S. government wants to take the ICC's references out of every resolution. Sometimes this becomes very embarrassing, as with the Liberian resolution in the summer. In the "Resolution on Humanitarian Personnel," in which a reference to the ICC was made, the United States blocked the resolution until the reference was taken out. This is really embarrassing, and China and Russia are not happy with this opposition. I think the United States today is the country that is really strongly opposing the ICC, but we hope the election in the United States will also help us. The situation is very complex in the United States, but we do not have to be obsessed with them. Ninety-three countries have already ratified the ICC. Turkish lawyers, judges and prosecutors can apply to the court for an internship and learn more about the ICC.

TDN: Do you put Turkey in same category as those countries that have not yet ratified the statute?

QUIJERA: No, I do not place Turkey in the same situation as these countries. Each country's position is different. The United States, Russia and China have different positions and considerations. Only the United States has a negative attitude towards the ICC. Russia, China and Iran do not have that much of a negative attitude; Turkey is the only Council of Europe member that has not yet signed the Rome Statute. I think this is not good for Turkey's appearance, and I think Turkey should join the ICC.

TDN: Thank you very much for your very informative explanation.

Irune Agirizzebal Quijera, the European coordinator of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) and responsible for this month's target-country campaign -- Turkey sign and ratify the Rome Statute -- was in Ankara last week to meet with government officials and NGO representatives. Quijera is also the director of the European Newsletter, a monthly publication concerning the ICC and owned by the coalition. We caught her after she had finished her meetings with NGO representatives at the Human Rights Association center in Ankara.
Gul addresses European Christian Democrats

'Turkey with its potential in every sense would be an asset for Europe. Never a burden,' Gul says

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News
Turkey has proven that contemporary democratic standards, the rule of law and respect for human rights can be maintained in a Muslim society, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told European conservative politicians on Thursday.

Gul was in Brussels addressing a congress of the European People's Party (EPP), which groups together conservative parties from across the European Union. The politicians attending the two-day congress were split over what stance to take towards Turkey's bid to join the EU.

German Christian Democrats said Turkey should be given an alternative to membership, while others said the union should keep its membership word to Turkey.

Turkey may be different from the rest of Europe but it should still be able to join the European Union, Gul said in his address.

The EU decides in December whether to open accession talks with Ankara. The choice is sensitive given growing anti-immigration and anti-Muslim sentiment in many European countries and is likely to become an issue in the campaign, at least in Germany, for European Parliament elections in June.

"You may find Turkey 'different' in a number of respects... But it is not the differences that should matter," Gul told the congress.

"Turkey with its potential in every sense would be an asset for Europe. Never a burden," he said.

Gul arrived in Brussels late on Wednesday for talks with EU officials on Turkey's membership prospects. He met Luxembourg's foreign minister, Lydie Polfer, on Thursday and was scheduled to have talks with EU Commissioner for Regional Policies Michel Barnier and High Commissioner for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana later in the day.

On Friday Gul is scheduled to meet with Guenter Verheugen, the EU commissioner for enlargement. He will depart for Ankara after a press conference in Brussels that is to follow the meeting with Verheugen.

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