European pressures on Greece to pass financial aid to Turkey
Turkey-European Union, Politics, 9/3/1999

Diplomatic sources in Brussels on Wednesday said they expect Athens to be exposed to pressure during the meeting of the foreign ministers of the European Union at the end of this week from its European partners to oblige it to withdraw its veto against European financial aid to Turkey, a veto which has halted aid for 15 years.

A devastating earthquake hit West Turkey on August 17 and resulted in killing 14,494 people.

The European Union is faced with an embarrassing situation in not dealing with the consequences of the catastrophe in Turkey and the needs of the Turks for aid to rebuild Turkey, on the one hand and the Greek's right to vote against the aid, on the other hand.

On Wednesday, the European Commission announced urgent humanitarian aid to the victims of the earthquake, estimated at 30 million euros to be taken from the humanitarian relief budget, which cannot be subject to a veto.

A spokesman for the EU said the financial contribution to rebuild the devastated areas in Turkey, needs the consent of one of the EU member states (Greece) in the fist phase and the ratification of the European Parliament in the second phase.

Athens obstructed some 650 million euros allotted by the European Union in 1995 to finance economic cooperation programs in the framework of the customs federation agreement with Turkey. Moreover, the European parliament has not yet approved aid at a value of 150 million euros that the ministerial council approved for Turkey at the end of last year.

Greece blames Turkey for the sanctions it places in the way of unifying Cyprus and the island's joining the European Union, as well as for the continued tension in the Aegean Sea. Yet, Athens did not oppose the principle of Turkey's joining the EU, if (Turkey) responds to the presumed political and economic standards in the 11 eastern countries which had applied for membership in the EU.

Previous Stories:
  Greece accuses Ankara of creating tension   (7/23/1999)
  Greek-Turkish talks to alleviate tension   (7/22/1999)
  Greece blames Turkey for creating crisis with Syria   (10/6/1998)

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