Turkey report firm but fair

10.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 22nd Apr 2008

The Foreign Affairs committee of the European Parliament voted this evening on a report dealing with Turkey's progress in negotiations towards eventual EU accession.

Andrew Duff MEP welcomed the outcome of Parliament's resolution which incorporated many Liberal Democrat amendments:

"Parliament has been fair with Turkey but also firm. There has been some good progress towards meeting EU criteria for membership, but the more radical reform of the Turkish constitution to rid the statute book of outmoded and in some cases authoritarian features is still awaited.

"The AKP government has a good opportunity to engage Turkish civil society, including minorities, in a real debate about the country's modernisation programme. Prime Minister Erdogan would be wise to press forward on the main points of his reform agenda and ignore relative distractions, like the headscarf in universities.

"And now that the Cyprus situation looks more hopeful, Turkey should prepare to recognise the Republic of Cyprus as a full trading partner to be consistent with EU law."