Sarah discusses Turkey-EU relations with Turkish MP Nursuna Memecan

5.38.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 28th Sep 2009

Left to Right: Turhan Ozen of Islington Liberal Democrats, Nursuna Memecan MP, Sarah Ludford MEP and Meral Ece, also of Islington Liberal Democrats.

Sarah met Turkish MP Nursuna Memecan, a member of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party, at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference in Bournemouth. They were joined by Cllr Meral Ece (right) and Turhan Ozen (left) of Islington Liberal Democrats. Sarah takes a great interest in Turkey and its progress towards the EU, and actively supports democratic and human rights reforms including for the Kurdish community. Ms Memecan is also a member of the ALDE (Liberal and Democrats for Europe) group in the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, the sister group to ALDE in the European Parliament. Sarah and Nursuna discussed the need for wholehearted EU support for Turkish democracy and reforms, commitment to EU accession, Turkish-Kurdish identity, the issue of secularism within the AK and how to achieve socio-economic progress in the Kurdish South East.