BRUSSELS - European Parliament (EP) member Joost Lagendijk called on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen for restraint, it was reported on Wednesday.
Lagendijk, who is also the Turkish Parliament-EP Joint Parliamentary Commission Co-Chairman, issued a written statement prior to Erdogan's scheduled contacts in Brussels on Thursday.
Lagendijk said ''talks on Turkey's entry negotiations and initiatives pertaining to inclusion of adultery issue to Turkish Penal Code (TCK) led to exciting days,'' stressing that, ''both Turkey and the EU need time so the excitement could calm down.''
Lagendijk urged Turkey not to disregard how much importance the EU attached to the new TCK, stressing that Turkey should know that accession talks cannot start before fulfillment of the reforms. '' PM Erdogan must confirm that he is eager to enact the TCK before Oct. 6th. He must leave to a later date the discussion on the adultery question'' Lagendijk said.
Lagendijk also advised the EU authorities to give up behaving as if the only important issue was adultery.
Criticizing the Christian democrat parties, Lagendijk said, ''some of the dimensions of the discussion is not far away from being hypocritical. It is amazing that some Christian Democrat Parties which tried to make adultery a crime in their respective countries a while ago, now say that the same proposal contradicts the EU norms.''
Lagendijk said ''Turkey made considerable progress in recent years'', stressing that, ''now parties should act responsibly and make joint efforts to start negotiations.''
(AY-ULG) 22.09.2004