Washington Post: EU move makes Turkey's task tougher: ruling party MP

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EU move makes Turkey's task tougher: ruling party MP

The European Union's decision to partially suspend Turkey's entry talks will cause problems for the Muslim nation, but Ankara will still press ahead on its path to membership, a senior ruling party lawmaker said on Tuesday. "A much more difficult process awaits Turkey. We need to be careful and calm," Koksal Toptan, the head of parliament's justice commission and a senior member of the ruling centre-right AK Party, told Reuters.

"This situation should not make us give up on our EU vision and objectives," Toptan said, in the first AK Party reaction to Monday's decision by EU foreign ministers to suspend talks in eight of 35 chapters or policy areas Turkey must work through. Editorial Comment EU-Digest: "The EU can only benefit by having Turkey as a full member of the Club. The pro's certainly outweigh the con's when it comes to cultural heritage, democracy, economics and geographical location. Religion should be a non-issue, because the EU states are all secular and so is Turkey. Even the Pope changed his mind on that subject. The so-called "Armenian genocide" is also a non issue which does not belong within the sphere of EU-Turkey membership discussions, but rather needs to be discussed between Armenia and Turkey. The strong world-wide Armenian lobby, which over the years has turned this issue into an "industry" must certainly not become a participant in the discussions. Even the so-called Cyprus impasse is out of context in these negotiations. The issue has been and should continue to be an issue to be solved between Cyprus and Turkey, arbitrated by the UN. Unfortunately many politicians on the right and the left in Europe seem to be looking inward and have taken a nationalistic and simplistic approach when they talk about Turkey and the EU. Obviously there are still a large number of problems to be ironed out between the EU and Turkey, but with the right attitude of all the parties involved, the EU can only gain by having Turkey as a full member."