BONN (Reuter)–German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel urged Turkey on Friday to build on what he called improvemen’s in its human rights record–saying this was key to any future membership of the European Union.
"Turkey belongs quite undoubtedly to Europe…The route to Europe is through human rights issues–the Kurdish problem and relations to Greece and Cyprus," Kinkel said after meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem in Bonn.
"The improvemen’s in human rights brought in by the new government must gain momentum and produce concrete results."
Turkey’s new three-party government was formed in June. Kinkel did not specify what improvemen’s in the human rights situation had been made.
Turkey–which has long aspired to join the EU–was not among the six countries put forward in July for negotiations on EU entry. Cem said then that full EU membership was a "basic desire" of his ministry.
