Тhe European Parliament calls on Turkey to ratify the Armenian-Turkish protocols signed in Zurich on October 10, reported the Turkish Zaman newspaper. The European Parliament has hinted in a draft report that it can point a finger at Turkey for possible European casualties in a future peacekeeping operation because, it says, Ankara is blocking the EU-NATO cooperation over its concerns related to Cyprus, the source reports.

The newspaper mentions the European Parliament 2009 Enlargement Report prepared by Italian Christian Democrat Gabriele Albertini, and the European Parliament’s claims that Turkey has been hindering EU-NATO cooperation, thus paving the way for less security for EU personnel.

“The draft will be discussed today at the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET). Ankara, which has not been happy about the wording of the paragraph on Turkey, has already started to inform members of the European Parliament of its objections. The five-page draft, which deals with the membership process of Western Balkan countries as well as Iceland and Turkey, focused on the Cyprus problem from a Greek Cypriot perspective,” Zaman writes.

The draft also calls on Turkey to coordinate its foreign policy with the EU and in particular its relations with Iran, urges the Turkish government and all parliamentary parties to establish consensus on key reforms, regrets the limited progress made in the area of freedom of expression and freedom of religion, calls on the Turkish government to contribute actively to the swift devising of a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus question, welcomes the efforts to resolve the Kurdish issue and encourages the Turkish government to take concrete measures to address the situation of citizens of Kurdish origin, commends the diplomatic efforts made to normalize relations with Armenia and urges the Turkish Grand National Assembly to ratify the relevant protocols, the newspaper writes.