EPP Congress in Marseille on Mediterranean Democratic Wind of Changes: And Turkey ?

*Marseille/EPP Congress/Angelo Marcopolo/- EPP Foreign Policy Spokesman Kasulides and Armenian Party Chief Hovanissian, speaking to "'EuroFora", expressed the view that EPP Congress'  focus on Mediterranean Democratic wind of changes, should blow also to Turkey

- "You can't avoid having a strange feeling when you hear some (mainly linked to an USA network related to Turkish propaganda) claim that .. Turkey might be a .."Model" for Arab Countries in terms of Democracy and even .. Human Rights !", acknowledged with an undestandable bitterness, coupled to an even more obvious surprise in front of such an illogic contradiction between the notoriously anti-democratic and oppressive Turkish regime, EPP Group's Foreign Policy Spokesman, experienced former Foreign Minister, and Frontrunner Presidential Candidate in the latest 2008 Elections, Ionanis Kasulides from Cyprus..

Hundreds of persisting Condamnations of Ankara's Government by the ECHR in Strasbourg, all the way through 1995 up to 2011 included, for particularly Serious Violations of Human Rights, such as Torture and Impunity of Torturers, as well as Murderers, Arbitrary Deprivations of personal Liberty, numerous Violations of Freedom of Expression, etc., are stil "Pending" for implementation by Ankara, inside CoE's Commitee of Ministers?

Even more when it's well known that the former Ottoman-Turkish empire had notoriously destroyed the Arab Civilisation, throwing the area in Centuries of Military Invasion and Occupation, from which the Arab Countries gained their independence after years of hard struggle and with the help of several EU Countries..
Just a few Days ago, CoE's Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg debated Turkey's persisting Violations of some 190.000 Greek Cypriot Refugees/Displaced persons' Human Rights to their Family Homes and Ancestral Land, which have been usurpated since the 1974 Turkish Military Invasion and Occupation of the northern part of the island, an EU Member Country since 2004, where they are brutally hindered even to return until today, despite an ECHR landmark case-law since 1996-1999  and 2001-2006, which has repeatedly condemned Turkey for such on-going violations, offering a base for Principles of Law which were, in the meantime, adopted even by UNO's Rapporteur on Refugees and IDP's Right to Restitution and Return, professor Pinheiro, whose Conclusions were andorsed by UNO's High Commissioners of Human Rights and on Refugees, resulting to the famous "Pinheiro Principles" : a UNO handy Booklet of World-wide circulation..  (Comp. also relevant Prof. professor Pinheiro's statements to "EuroFora"s co-founder).

Meanwhile, yesterday in Brussels, MEPs from various Political Groups, at the initiative of Antigoni Pericleous-Papadopoulou from Cyprus, (from the former Liberal but afterwards SocialDemocrat Group's DHKO Party of Cyprus), reportedly inaugurated a Symbolic "Christmas Tree", together with Families of the more than 1.650 "MISSING" Persons of the Greek Cypriot Community, on which the Turkish Authorities persistently refuse (for more than 35 Years) to give any pertinent Information about their fate and on what really happened to them, and still fail to search, find and punish those responsible, so that many Condamnations of Ankara's Government by the ECHR on this tragic issue remain practically non implemented. A recent program (pushed mainly by the controversial former "Socialist" British Government of Mr. Blair) of Exhumations  and reburials of remains of victims of Turkish a.o. brutalities in the island, without making any Investigation to find out what reallky happened to them and who is Responsible, (contrary to the ECHR's well established case-law), even risks to .."Destroy Evidence", i.e. Hide horrible Crimes and cover-up Monstruous Criminals, provoking an obviously Dangerous atmosphere also for the present and the foreseeable future inside the EU...  Such risks, inherent to any exhumation of victims' remains when it's done without any Forensic Investigation, and is even followed by re-burrial, return/loss of material evidence (as f.ex. victims' clothes, bones, etc. from which Investigators often find interesting clues allowing to discover what had really happened to the victims), normally goes against what is clearly indicated as the right thing to do in cases of "Missing" People in general, both a Senior CoE's Officer and "Amnesty International"'s  Senior Director for Research and Regional Programmes,  Claudio Cordone, (who has had an intense personal experience on "Missing" People in the Balkans), have earlier denounced to "EuroFora"s co-founder.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

- "Winds for Democratic Change in the Mediterranean, after reaching from Morocco and Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, etc. up to Syria, might as well complete their Historic move and blow also on Turkey... You never know where Democratic Changes blowing in the Wind may arrive.. ", crossed fingers, in a wishfull thought, the hyper-active and inventive President of the Armenian "Heritage" party, Raffi Hovanissian, an experienced former CoE Assembly member, who had dared challenge in Strasbourg Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan on the problem of violations of Religious Freedom of Christian and other former Majorities for Thousands of Years, which had become tiny Minorities of just 1%, in just a few Centuries of Ottoman-Turkish rule...

+ Meanwhile, Hovanissian party's ("Heritage") representative to CoE's Assembly, MEP Zaruhi Postanjyan, (Member of the ChristianDemocrat/EPP Group), who is CoE's Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression for On Line Media, has just presented, debated and voted on her Report by PACE's Committee for Culture and Education in Paris on Tuesday afternoon :

  - "Restrictions, Filtering or even Blocking Access to the Internet, committed by State Authorities", have been recently condemned by ECHR, f.ex. in Turkey, and denounced also by the OSCE, critically observes PACE's Report, referring to an ECHR's 2010 judgement condeming Turkey, and on EOSC/OSCE's latest Report on the problems of Liberty of Medias in Turkey, which notes even "Internet's Censorship"

- Scandalously persisting Impunity of those hiding behind Murders of Journalists was strongly denounced recently by CoE's Commissioner on Human Rights, the experienced former "Amnesty International" Head Thomas Hammarberg, who cited also the famous case of those who are still hidden behind the Murder of Armenian Journalist Hrant Dink, for which ECHR strongly condemned Turkey on Autumn 2010. (See relevant "EuroFora"s NewsReport, then).But, what Hammarberg curiously forgot in his latest Report (see Supra), is that, on the same year (2005) that ECHR condemned Ukraine on the famous case of the Murder of Web Journalist Gongadze, ECHR also condemned Turkey for the cold-blood Murder of Turkish Cypriot dissident Journalist Adali, a well known Critic of Ankara's policies of Massive Immigration of Anatolian Colonists systematically imported in the Occupied Territopries of Cyprus, held by Ankara's Foreign Army.

And, while at least in Gongadje's case, Ukraine has already found, judged and punished at least 2 among those responsible for the Murder, for Tens of years in jai, followed by the Arrest of a 3rd one, and even admitting American FBI's active participation into the Investigation, on the contrary, the Turkish Authorities claim that they have found ...nothing, and absolutely Noone among those Responsible for the cold-blood Miurder of Adali !  Nevertheless, despite these Facts, the Turkish Authorities scandalously exploited their rotating Chairmanship of COE's Human Rights' meetings back on June 2010 in order to silently .. drop the whole affair and erase it from  CoE's Committee of Ministers 'Agenda....               

- "Some (networks) inside the EU bear a heavy Responsibiliy for the Anti-Democratic setbacks and Human Rights' violations in Turkey", including, f.ex. "complete control of the Courts by the (Ankara) Government", "Journalists and politicians persecuted and/or jailed in violation of Freedom of speech", etc, reportedly denounced recently... the Head of the Turkish main Opposition party, CHP, Kilicdaroglou, when he met with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt..

 - Indeed, "EU had almost forgotten its own Values in that area for a long time, in the name of Stability. But what was called the Arab Spring, or more widely, the Mediterranean Democratic Awakening, proved that  it was fully wrong. So that now, EU is decided to do anything in its power for something like that to never happen again in the Future", stressed the experienced President of the ChristianDemocrat/EPP Party, former Prime Minister and MEP, Wilfried Martens.

- "We want to bring the EPP closer to (EU) Citizens", stressed meanwhile EPP's Secretary General, Antonio Lopez-Isturiz.

Martens also launched a call for a UN SC Resolution on nearby Syria to stop the killings, find and punish those responsible.     

Both old Kadhafi and Assad regimes in Libya and Syria had been supported by Turkey almosty up to the last minute, (pushing the grotesque as far as to celebrate the.. "Khadafi Human Rights Prize" award to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, who travelled to Libya to receive it, accompagnied by plenty of Journalists and Media, at the End of November 2010), until Ankara was obliged to turn its coat upside down, and start pretending exactly the opposite...

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Meanwhile, even the Turkish Judge at the ECHR,  reportedly denounced the fact that applications for Human Rights' Violations by Tiurkey have recently grown considerably, with almost + 600 cases more on 2011 than last year, while CoE's CLRAE recently denounced also the Fact that the Number of Prisoners in Turkey has almost.. "Doubled" between 2007 and 2010...

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Last but not least, EU's Energy supply security, which is closely related to Job Creation, Growth and Competitiveness, could be greatly boosted, and saved by the uncertainties of External routes of supply out of the EU,  by the encouraging on-going findings of huge Natural Gas Resources in EU Member Cyprus' exclusive zone in the Eastern Mediterranean, in agreement with neighbouring Arab States and in cooperation with Israel, being an incentive for Stability in the Region and a Catalyst for a Solution of Cyprus' issue by the ReUnification of the island. But it persists to face harassment and threats from Turkey, which doesn't behave as a country in lucrative negotiations with the EU, denounced the Leader of the biggest Party in Cyprus, (DHSY/Christian Democrats), Nicos Anastassiades.