Ahead of tomorrow's (Wednesday's) landmark report on Turkish EU membership, Plaid Cymru Euro-MP Jill Evans has expressed dismay at reports that the European Commission is set to open the door for Turkey without first demanding hard evidence of progress on the country's human rights record, and in particular its treatment of the Kurdish people.

She explained that whilst Plaid Cymru and the European Free Alliance take the view that eventual Turkish membership of the EU would be good for Turkey and for Europe, there must be strict conditions attached, particularly in relation to human rights and the Turkish regime's treatment of the Kurdish minority:

"This is the reason for our dismay about the possibility of the Commission opening the door for Turkish membership with tomorrow's report.

"Our Group welcomes, up to a point, reports of a mechanism for slowing up or even halting the negotiations if Turkey fails to make progress on human rights, this falls well short of what we would have hoped for."

Jill Evans, who is Deputy leader of Plaid Cymru, continued:

"Throughout this process we've voiced our concerns that not enough progress is being made in improving the human rights situation in Turkey, in particular the treatment of the Kurdish people.

"It remains the case that the linguistic, political and cultural rights of the Kurdish people do not get the recognition they deserve from the Turkish regime. Indeed it's reported that around 40% of the Kurdish population in Turkey cannot read or write - the legacy of an education system that doesn't recognise the Kurdish language. Can we really start accession negotiations against this backdrop?"

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