HL Deb 03 May 2000 vol 612 cc176-7WA
Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will raise the following issues at the European Union/Turkey Association Council on 11 April: (a) the case for internal dialogue within Turkey on issues including the cultural and educational needs of the Kurdish and other minorities; (b) the imprisonment or exile of some Turkish elected members of parliament and mayors; (c) the ending of martial law in the south-east provinces, and of state security courts; and (d) drug trafficking via Turkey. [HL1977]

Baroness Scotland of Asthal

At the 11 April EC-Turkey Association Council the Portuguese Presidency, on behalf of member states, read out an agreed text on EU/Turkey relations. This stated that the proposed EU-Turkey Accession Partnership should set out priorities for action to enable Turkey to meet the EU's membership criteria as agreed at the 1993 Copenhagen European Council. These criteria include democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the protection of minorities.

In reply to the specific points:

(a) We regularly raise the rights of Kurdish and other minorities with the Turkish authorities; (b) We supported the demarches by the EU Troika on 24 February and 30 March against the arrest of the HADEP mayors and re-imprisonment of Akin Birdal; (c) We welcomed the removal of the military judge from the Turkish State Security Court system last year and the proposal of the Turkish Human Rights Minister in January to lift emergency rule in the south-east; and (d) The Prime Minister announced on 9 March that the EU should intensify co-operation against drug trafficking with all the EU applicant countries, including Turkey. We have proposed help on data collection, and the monitoring and evaluation of anti-drugs programmes.