(Adds British government comment paragraphs 10,11) ANKARA, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Turkish officials have accused Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, of smearing Turkey's image in a British television programme on state orphanages in Turkey, to be shown the day after an EU report on Turkish membership plans. Ferguson, ex-wife of Queen Elizabeth's second son Andrew, went under cover with ITN reporters to visit state-run orphanages in Ankara and Istanbul and report on conditions there. The documentary will be shown on ITV on Nov. 6. "It is obvious that Sarah Ferguson is ill-intentioned and is trying to launch a smearing campaign against Turkey by opposing Turkey's EU membership," Nimet Cubukcu, minister in charge of women and family affairs, told Anatolian news agency on Monday. "It is saddening that Sarah Ferguson made video shots with an orientalist point of view which she is not permitted to make in her own country, and tried to cause indignation in Turkey," Cubukcu said. The European Commission will publish a report on Wednesday on preparations by countries wanting to join the 27-member bloc. Turkey, a large Muslim country, began membership negotiations in October 2005. The EU has repeatedly criticised Turkey's human rights record and urged the government to speed up reforms. Britain is a firm supporter of EU membership for Turkey. "This is a valid area of public interest at a time when the UK government is endorsing the accession of Turkey into the EU, a process which is conditional in part on Turkey improving its human rights record with children," ITV said. A spokeswoman for Ferguson said she had no political motivations. "This is all about the welfare of children." A Turkish government official told Reuters: "We object to the undercover methodology of the documentary. We should have been informed about their plans to do a documentary on orphanages. This could have an impact on our image in Europe." Britain's Foreign Office said the views expressed in the programme were Ferguson's own and did not represent the views of the British government. "The UK is aware of the human rights situation in Turkey and works bilaterally and together with EU partners to encourage key reforms in this area. Much has already been achieved in Turkey and the current government has indicated that it is committed to fundamental rights reform," it said in a statement. A reporter who accompanied Ferguson on the trip said children were found tied to their beds or left in filthy cots. "Dressed in bedclothes and rags, some had shaven heads -- which gave them the appearance of convicts rather than patients. In every corner, a child showed signs of distress, with many exhibiting the awful violent rocking of the institutionalised," Chris Rogers wrote in the Mail on Sunday. Turkish newspapers have reported details of the documentary. The poor conditions in state orphanages and psychiatric centres in Turkey have made the institutions the subject of several domestic and international investigations. The ITN team also visited orphanages in Romania. (Editing by Tim Pearce)
A car burns during clashes between Turkish riot police and Kurdish demonstrators protesting a visit by Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to the eastern Turkish city of Van November 1, 2008. ...
