Australia: Turkish Speaker discusses Armenian, EU, cooperation issues
Anatolia news agency, Ankara
13 May 05
Canberra, 13 May: Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc who is
currently in Australia on a formal visit, met Australian Prime
Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Friday
[13 May].
After his meeting with Howard, Arinc told the Anatolia correspondent
that relations with Australia should not be limited solely with Anzac
ceremonies but they should be improved in every area.
Expressing concern over the attempts of foreign countries to recognize
the so-called Armenian genocide allegations, Arinc said, “Turkey has
never committed genocide, and we should leave historical matters to
historians. Parliaments should not make decisions on these matters.”
On the other hand, Arinc also met Australian Minister for Small
Business and Tourism Fran Bailey.
Bailey underlined importance of bilateral relations and expressed wish
to see more Turkish tourists in her country.
Arinc also met Senator Alan Ferguson, head of the Australian
Parliamentary Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee.
In this meeting, Arinc stressed that Turkey was undertaking important
roles in preserving world peace.
Stressing that some circles were against Turkey’s EU membership for
two reasons, Arinc listed these reasons as those who were against
enlargement of EU’s borders and those who were against Turkey’s Muslim
identity.
“Negotiations will be launched on 3 October and we think that this
process will be hard and won’t end in a short time. It is not right to
mention any exact date, but we can say that our full membership can
become real in 2010-2012,” added Arinc.
Arinc will proceed to Sydney tomorrow (Saturday) and return to Turkey
after completing his talks in this city.