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47 European Parliament members establish ‘Friends of Turkey’ group
Today’s Zaman, 2010. gada 19. marts
The Friends of Turkey informal parliamentary friendship group was established this week in the European Parliament and counts among its members 47 European MEPs hailing from parties as diverse as the Christian Democrats, the Socialists, the Liberals, the Greens, the European Conservatives and the Reformists.
Former Slovenian Prime Minister Social Democrat Alojz Peterle was chosen to lead the group, while Fatih Aydoğan, German Socialist İsmail Ertuğ’s assistant, was elected general secretary.
Elected unanimously, Friends of Turkey group chairman Peterle said the group, whose charter was signed by 47 deputies from various parties and 15 countries, will be very active in the European Parliament. He also said the group will launch initiatives to enhance Turkey-EU relations.
Among the group’s members are the spouse of Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, Anna Corazza-Bildt; Sandra Kalniete (Latvia); Jaroslaw Leszek Walesa (Poland); Birgit Schnieber-Jastram (Germany); Georg Bach from Luxemburg’s Christian Democrats; İsmail Ertuğ, Knut Fleckenstein, Jutta Steinruck and Peter Simon (Germany); Emine Bozkurt (the Netherlands); Richard Howitt and Claude Moraes (UK); Tanja Fajon (Slovenia); Ioan Enciu and Victor Bostinaru (Romania); Boguslaw Liberadzki (Poland); Said El-Khadraoui (Belgium); Baris Zala (Slovakia); Evgeni Kirilov (Bulgaria); Raimon Obiols (Spain); and Kader Arif from the French Socialists.
Metin Kazak (Bulgaria); Jelko Kacin and Ivo Vajgl (Slovenia); Graham Watson, Andrew Duff, Sarah Ludford and Michael Cashman (UK); Marietje Schaake and Sophie in’t Veld (the Netherlands); Michael Theurer and Alexandra Thain (Germany); Liisa Jaakonsaari and Anneli Jaatteenmaki from the Finnish Liberals; EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee co-chairperson Hélène Flautre, Catherine Greze and Karima Delli (France); Fransizka Keller and Jan Philipp Albrecht (Germany); Raul Romeva i Rueda (Spain); Indrek Tarand (Estonia); Heidi Hautala (Finland); Judith Sargentini from the Dutch Greens and Sajjad Karim from the Dutch European Conservatives and Reformists are also among the members of the group.
Press Release: ‘Friends of Turkey’