AZG Armenian Daily #181, 08/10/2005

Neighbors

OLLI REHN, EU ENLARGEMENT COMMISSIONER, IN TURKEY

German FM Calls Him Mustafa Oli Ren

As the European Union opened negotiations with Turkey, diverse European
delegations repair to Turkey these days. Olli Rehn, European Enlargement
Commissioner, is among the visitors. Ankara shows great interest to his
visit, Zaman wrote on 7 October. So great that Turkey’s foreign minister
Abdullah Gul personally accompanies him.

Asked by the Turkish journalists whether it is true that Joschka Fischer,
German foreign minister, calls him Mustafa for his pro-Turkish activities,
the commissioner answered: “Fischer calls me Mustafa Ogli (Olli) Rehn and I
am proud of that”.

Rehn visited Turkish Parliament where he met members of the external
committee. He confirmed once again at the meeting that the goal of the
negotiations is to make Turkey a full member of the EU pointing out
meanwhile that Turkey needs to improve conditions of national minorities,
open the Greek seminary of Constantinople and carry out reforms in
Kurdish-populated southeast.

Answering a question by the committee members, Rehn said: “It is envisaged
that Turks will be able to move freely in EU not earlier than 2020 but there
is no guarantees for that either”. As to the right of visa-free travel in
the European states for the Turkish citizens, Rehn gave an evasive answer
saying that it is to the governments to decide.

By Hakob Chakrian

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress