For a country to enter the EU, there has to be full respect of minority rights, freedom of thought and expression. If you drag your feet and make cosmetic changes ... then this won't do. To believe that, you would need to be a child. |
he complains. ''Otherwise it's offensive to discuss poverty and suicide; they talk about these things as if they happen in a land beyond the civilized world. |
he said. ''Therefore, I do. |
I am a Turk. I've lived in Turkey for 43 years, and for that reason my political observations are about Turkey, because that's what I know. |
I blame him for his weakness and lack of determination. At the beginning of this year we had a wave of nationalist incidents and attacks on the E.U. project, including some by members of his own party. He did not look the problem in the eye and draw a clear line between anti-E.U. nationalism and the attitude of tolerance. He tried to avoid the subject. |
I repeat, I said loud and clear that 1 million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in Turkey, and I stand by that. |
I think perhaps it is a generational thing, |
I think perhaps it is a generational thing. I talk to younger people and they say, 'Where is this melancholy city you talk about? My Istanbul is a sunny place. |
It's a scandal, a shame, |
Of course I'm for Turkey joining the EU. But it's too simple to say that will make us all well-off and solve all our problems. Since the referendums in France and the Netherlands, Europe is preoccupied with itself. Various ideas are competing with one another about the character of the Union. Will Europe define itself exclusively through the past ? This is a conservative view and can ultimately be reduced to discussions on agricultural policy and the distribution of funds. This is always the case with short-term politics. But in the long term Europe needs an all-encompassing vision of itself and for that reason I recommend that Turkey joins. |
There is no doubt that it will raise questions about the wisdom of Turkey's EU membership bid. How can it possibly claim to be a European country if it has such laws on the books, and if public prosecutors can bring such cases? |
There is nothing that constitutes a crime in this interview. |
Therefore, I do. |
Thirty thousand Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it, |
Thirty-thousand Kurds and one million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it, |