Cyprus PIO – Occupied Cyprus
Nov 16 2004

Erdogan comments on EU membership issues

Ankara Anatolia news agency (14/11/04) reported from Istanbul that
the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan on Sunday attended a
breakfast with citizens at Marmara University in Istanbul.
He said: ”Direct foreign capital flow to Turkey will increase after
December 17th. During our meetings with countries, they say, ‘we
invest in Turkey. We believe in confidence milieu and stability in
Turkey. But it should be supported in legal dimension.’ So the EU is
important at this point. However, we do not consider the EU only as
an economic participation or an economic contribution to Turkey. It
was a thing of the past.

Now, there is the problem of definition of EU. Turkey completed the
legal process about it. But de facto process has not been solved yet.
Following our serious struggles, Christianity expression was not
included in the EU Constitution. Despite all these issues, their
sensitivity continues. We cannot underestimate this”.

Erdogan noted: ”The EU has to accept Turkey’s accession to have
consensus of civilizations happen. If they do not accept Turkey, this
will be a deficiency for the EU. We have fulfilled the Copenhagen
political criteria. We fulfilled our tasks. Now, they will have a
test after December 17th. They will give Turkey the place it deserves
in this road map regarding the negotiation process. If they do not,
we clearly say that we will change the name of the Copenhagen
political criteria as Ankara political criteria and we continue our
path.”

Erdogan reminded the statements of European Parliament president who
said ‘Turkey has fulfilled the changes in a very short time and
surprised us,’ and added: ”Following these statements, everything
which is done now seems emotional to me. International diplomacy does
not accept emotionality. The Seminary and Armenian issues cannot be
discussed before December 17th. We shall firstly solve December 17th
and then we will discuss the seminary and Armenian problems besides
other issues.

We are loyal to conventions and true to our promises, and we have
pursued our diplomacy under these promises,” he added. Presenting
the Cyprus issue as an example, Erdogan said: ”While the Greek
Cypriot side rejected peace, the ´Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus´ wanted peace in the island.

However, isolations are still imposed on Turkish Cypriots. The Greek
Cypriot side joined EU. It is a test of sincerity.”