HELSINKI: TURKISH FM PROMISES TO MEET EU MEMBERSHIP CONDITIONS

Helsingin Sanomat, Finland
Oct 18 2005

Abdullah Gul thanks Finland for support

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul promised on Monday that his
country would continue its legislative and economic reforms to meet
all criteria set for membership in the European Union.

During a visit to Finland, Gul commented that meeting the conditions
is in Turkey’s interests as well. He also predicted that his country
would be a member of the European Union in ten years.

Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja noted that Finland had worked
hard to get Turkey accepted as an applicant country. There has also
been widespread support for Turkey’s bid in the Finnish Parliament.

Gul also mentioned that he hopes that the Finnish people would back his
country’s membership bid. In other EU countries, tones have been more
critical. Austria, which holds the EU Presidency in the first half of
2006 (just before Finland), tried to block the launch of membership
talks with Turkey, setting talks with Croatia as a precondition for
its approval.

However, Gul said that he does not expect Austria’s turn at the
Presidency to cause problems. Tuomioja also said that he does not
believe that any country will set a very unique agenda.

“Turkey itself knows that it still has much to do, but this is the
beginning of a long process”, Tuomioja said.

The controversial prosecution of Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, who
has written about the Kurdish question and the Armenian genocide,
is not a problem in Gul’s opinion. The trial of Pamuk has not been
called off, and the hearing is scheduled to go ahead on December 16th.

Turkey has already reformed its criminal code, but before it becomes
a member of the EU, it must resolve a number of issues, such as
its attitude toward the new EU member-state Cyprus, an island whose
northern part has been occupied by Turkey for 30 years.

The continued non-recognition of Cyprus by Turkey remains a problem
for its EU membership bid.

The European Commission is to issue a report on Turkey’s progress
early next month.