STRASBOURG, France, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The European Parliament, meeting in France, approved a report Wednesday criticizing Turkey for not doing enough to meet European Union membership criteria.
The chamber voted 429-71 in favor of the report, with 125 delegates abstaining.
The report criticizes Turkey's human rights shortcomings, but does not call on Turkey to officially recognize as genocide the forced mass evacuation and related deaths of Armenians by Ottoman Turks from 1915 to 1917.
Armenians have pushed for such recognition, claiming more than 1.5 million died in what some call the Armenian Holocaust.
Turkey vehemently denies the deaths were genocide.
The report calls on Turkey to increase reforms around freedom of expression, religious rights, women's rights, labor unions, minority rights, cultural rights and judicial independence, the EU Observer reports.
The report also expresses hope Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming visit to Turkey will "contribute to strengthening inter-religious and intercultural dialogue between the Christian and Muslim world."
