ISSUE OF RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE NOT TO BECOME POLITICAL CRITERION FOR TURKEY’S ACCESSION TO EU

“The issue of recognition of the Armenian Genocide will not be a political criterion for Turkey,” head of the representation of the European Commission in Turkey Hansjorg Kretschmer stated. The demands that the international community recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide, which are on the agenda in France, raised the questions on how these demands will tell on Turkey’s ambitious plans of accession to the EU. Hansjorg Kretschmer noted that the decision to support the beginning of talks with Turkey on its accession to the EU, passed December 17, 2004, evidences that official Ankara “has met the political criteria to a considerable degree.”