TURKEY AND EUROPEAN EXPANSION
Luokka: European RegionPosition of the European Regional regarding Turkey and the European expansion
European humanists wish to express their support for the incorporation of Turkey into the European Union and we are pleased that negotiations have been initiated between the Union and Turkey.
As was expressed in the II Congress of the European Regional of the Humanist International on the 27th and 28th of November in Budapest, humanists do not put historical or geographical limits to our conception of Europe. Europe is a culture that has been growing with the contribution of many generations and distinct cultures over millennia. How can Europe be understood without the contribution of what is currently called Turkey? Would Europe exist without a continuous and fertile interchange with other Regions? Has Europe been somewhat homogeneous, or maybe better described as varied and changing?
It is because of this that we recommend to the member states, parties, organisations and peoples in general to come out in favour of continuing the growth of the present European Union and not to shut the door to neighbouring countries because of absurd motives such as geography, customs, religion or ways of dressing. We are not dealing with the promotion of a new European expansionist nationalism but rather to include all countries that freely desire it and comply with the same conditions; and from here to make a contribution of solidarity to our common destiny: the Universal Human Nation.
The argument that Turkey does not comply with human rights is ambiguous. It is clear that everyone wishes for them to be complied with in this country but no European country is free of blame. Besides, it is precisely those who use this argument who are the ones who most easily forget to defend them in their own spheres of action. We became accustomed a long time ago to wars and police control over the population with the excuse of human rights… Of course Turkey must comply but we believe that from within Europe the rights of Turkish people will be more guaranteed that in isolation. In this sense humanists support the demands for the respect of human rights in Turkey but we invite, at the same time, the present members of the Union to respect the human rights formulated in the Universal Declaration of Geneva in 1948.
For us the best indicator of the future of Europe is growth and opening. It matters little that the present directors are neo-liberals who are only moved by business opportunity because they will soon be gone… but Europe and its populations will continue. If during centuries the European dream has been built through military subjectivity of the power of the time, today it is the people who freely and in equality wish for this common project. And it is this common project that is diverse, tolerant and humanising which for us signifies Europe.
