NEGOTIATIONS TO BE CHALLENGING, BUT NO OBSTACLES WE CAN’T OVERCOME

Turkish Press
Oct 6 2005

Press Scan
ZAMAN (CONSERVATIVE)

The EU launched negotiations with Turkey on October 3rd. However, there
are different views on how long these full membership negotiations
will last. French President Jacques Chirac says that he is not sure
Turkey could become a full EU member one day after fulfilling all
the conditions, while the EU public opinion thinks that Turkey cannot
achieve this process. European experts on Turkey, who spoke to Zaman,
assume a more optimistic approach. Experts in London and Brussels think
that issues like human rights, Kurdish problem, religious minorities,
military-civilian relations, and Armenian allegations can be overcome
during the negotiation process in case Cyprus problem is resolved.