TURKEY

EU/national security

The National Security Council issued a statement welcoming the fact that the
EU had given Turkey an accession talks start date but warning that Turkey must
be ready to deal with any problems arising during negotiations. The statement
said: “It was emphasized how important it was for certain negative points in
the [EU] summit decision to be eliminated so that the accession talks process,
which aims for full membership, can be conducted on sustainable grounds not
containing any conditions or discriminating against Turkey.” Among the issues
which the council envisaged might be problematic were security problems
connected with Cyprus and the Aegean, the alleged Armenian genocide problem and the
issue of minorities.

(Hurriyet web site, Istanbul, in Turkish 31 Dec 04)