Greens/EFA Conference in Istanbul, 19 - 22 October: Turkey in the EU: a common future?

The Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament will hold a conference on the question of Turkey's accession to the European Union in Istanbul in October. The conference, which will include debates with prominent Turkish and European personalities, takes place before EU leaders make a final decision on the opening of accession negotiations with Turkey on 17 December. The venue is the conference centre of the Hilton Hotel, Istanbul.

Prominent speakers attending the conference, will include:

• Joschka Fischer, German Foreign Minister • Abdullah Gül, Turkish Foreign Minister • Hilmi Güller, Turkish Energy Minister • Mehmet Aydin, Secretary of State, Turkey • Orhan Pamuk, Writer - Istanbul • Leyla Zana, Sakharov Prize winner • Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Monica Frassoni, Co-Presidents of the Green/EFA Group in the European Parliament, • Hélène Flautre, Chair of the Parliamentary sub-committee on Human Rights • Joost Lagendijk, Co-Chair of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliament committee, • Cem Özdemir, MEP

There will be six round tables debates during the three-day conference on the following topics:

1. Europe's values and frontiers

2. Civil liberties

3. Women's rights

4. Decision on the accession negotiations with Turkey and the Commission's report

5. Environment and agriculture in Turkey and an enlarged EU

6. Environment & Environmental movements in Turkey: Ways to connect

Please have a look on the programme :

• Tuesday 19th October 2004 • Wednesday 20th October 2004 • Thursday 21st October 2004

Programme of the whole week (PDF format)

An online accreditation form will be available soon.

Source: www.greens-efa.org/cms/pressreleases/dok/101/101001.greensefa_conference_in_istanbul_19_22_o@en.htm