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Greek president warns Turkey to respect Kurdish rights

STRASBOURG, May 17, 2006 (AFP) - Greek President Carolos Papoulia warned Turkey on Wednesday that it must respect human rights, notably those of the Kurds, if it wants closer ties with the European Union.

"I don't think that Turkey will be able to have closer ties with the EU by violating fundamental rights; this is true for the Kurds but not them alone," he said in a speech at the European Parliament.

"These are problems that are the responsibility of the Turkish government," he said, adding that the EU has "laid out a framework of principles within which Turkey must operate."

Turkey was accepted in October as a candidate to join the EU but no guarantee was given that it will be made a member once it has undertaken reform to bring into line with the bloc, a process likely to take more than a decade.

The EU has long pressed Ankara to grant equal cultural freedoms to its large Kurdish minority -- estimated at about 12 million people -- as well as smaller, non-Muslim communities of Greeks, Armenians and Jews.