"Babacan removes secularism reference from EU document
The New Anatolian / Ankara
Ali Babacan, Turkey's chief European Union negotiator, has removed an explicit reference to 'secularism' from Turkey's position paper on education and culture, adding to speculations about the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party's lack of commitment to the secular character of the Turkish state.
The position paper, prepared for the education and culture chapter in EU accession talks, has been sent to the European Commission without any reference to secularism, and sources at Turkey's EU General Secretariat confirmed to The New Anatolian that this marked a difference of opinion between the bureaucracy and Babacan. "
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