Armenians launch campaign against pro-Turkey MEPs

02.06.2009 -News- SELÇUK GÜLTAªLI
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=176986&bolum=102
In the run-up to this week's European Parliament elections, a Brussels-based Armenian diaspora organization has launched a campaign against pro-Turkey members of the European Parliament (MEPs) while lobbying for MEPs known to be in favor of claims that Anatolian Armenians were victims of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) has released a report on the European Parliament's last legislature between 2004 and 2009, which, it said, "enlightens the positions adopted by the various political groups on the issues relating to foreign affairs, such as Turkey's accession, the European Neighborhood Policy, the relations between the European Union and Armenia [and] the destruction by Azerbaijan of the Armenian cultural heritage."

The EAFJD, founded in 2000 in the EU capital, describes itself as a "nongovernmental organization representing the European citizens of Armenian origin at the European institutions."

The 19-page report accused some MEPs of acting as a "lobbyists" in favor of Turkey, while praising the European United Left Group (GUE) -- known to be close to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- calling it "the most coherent group," in regards to Turkey's EU accession issue.

The European Green Party "started defending the Turkish immigrants from discrimination and progressively moved to the unconditional support of the Turkish accession by the dissimulation of the justified obstacles which impedes the accession process.
Consequently, it constitutes today a real [Turkish] lobby within the European Parliament," the report states.

"The GUE has the most coherent position, which is in favor of Turkish accession by principle and at the same time it firmly expresses the preliminary demand of respect for European values, among which is the recognition of the genocide," it says.

The European People's Party (EPP) got its share of harsh criticism from the EAFJD, particularly due to the stance of its member Ria Oomen-Ruijten of the Netherlands who has acted as the rapporteur for Turkey for the last two years.

"The position of the EPP group got considerably worse, in particular under the influence of Mrs. Ria Oomen-Ruijten, which showed a singular leniency towards Ankara in general and was resolutely hostile to any clear mention of the Armenian issue in particular. Mrs. Ria Oomen-Ruijten notably said publicly offensive remarks about the Armenians on several occasions. Her attitude pleased some EPP members who continuously supported the idea of Turkey's accession and who always showed reluctance to mention the Armenian Genocide such as Mr. Geoffrey Van Orden [the United Kingdom], Mr. Vitautas Landsbergis [Lithuania] or Mr. José Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra [Spain]."

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