NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Oct 21 2004

PM calls on France to support Turkey’s EU bid

The Turkish Prime Minister said that Turkey would not withdraw its
forces from Cyprus.

Turkey’s Prime Minister on Thursday repeated his call on France to
back his country’s bid to be given a date to start accession
negotiations with the European Union.
Turkey wanted to see France cast a vote in favour of opening
accession talks when EU leaders meet on December 17 for their end of
year summit, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a press
conference in Paris Thursday.
Erdogan, in the French capital for the release of the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s report on
Turkey, said that Turkey had fulfilled the requirements laid down for
it to start membership negotiations and it was now the European Union
that would be tested on the December 17.
Erdogan said that political leaders acted according to the
will of their nations.
`However, for action between states you do not act according
to feelings,’ he said. `You do it by criteria.’
When asked a question about the so-called Armenian genocide,
Erdogan said people should study the Ottoman archives first.
`The Armenian citizens in my country do not have such
complaints,’ he said. `No one has the right to agitate the matter
while looking from a distance.’
He said that these matters should not be used to generate into
hatred and that friendship should be sought instead.