Epress.am News from Armenia
The European Parliament is expected to reiterate its call on Turkey to adopt a new constitution to better protect human rights and freedoms in a draft resolution due to be discussed at its Committee on Foreign Affairs this week, reports Today’s Zaman.
The draft resolution penned by the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, Ria-Oomen Ruijten, welcomes the adoption of constitutional amendments in a referendum on Sept. 12 but underlines “the pressing need for an overall constitutional reform transforming Turkey into a full-fledged pluralistic democracy, with the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms at its core.”
The draft resolution on Turkey will first be discussed at the Committee on Foreign Affairs on Thursday. A second debate at the same committee will take place in February and the document will be brought to the European Parliament in March, when it will be debated and voted on.
Note that paragraph 32 of the draft resolution urges Turkey “to ratify the protocols with Armenia, to open the border with this neighbour, and to use its regional weight as one of the key powers in the Caucasus to enhance confidence-building measures and to contribute to the solution of the frozen conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh.”