DIFFICULTIES WILL BE MOSTLY POLITICAL IN E.U. PROCESS, BABACAN

Turkish Press
Oct 24 2006

ANKARA – Indicating that Turkey will have mostly political difficulties
in the EU accession process, State Minister and Chief Negotiator Ali
Babacan said on Tuesday: "we have to be patient, act resolutely and
defend Turkey’s EU vision in front of difficulties".

Taking the floor at a symposium on "Strategic Prevision: 2003 World and
Turkey in 100th Year of Turkish Republic", Babacan assessed Turkey’s
position as regards EU process.

He stated that it was impossible to regard Turkey’s EU vocation
separately from economy, domestic and foreign politics. "As a matter of
fact, this process paved the way to extremely important developments
in economy. Now,all actors in Turkish economy look at the future from
a wider perspective" he added.

"Turkey approaches EU with strong dynamics and Turkey’s membership
must be regarded as a significant event which could redefine the
future of Europe", Babacan noted.

-CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS-

Regarding the bill in the French Parliament which aims to criminalize
the denial of so-called Armenian genocide, Babacan said : "this
kind of attempts are extremely harmful in terms of understanding and
respect to each other. These attempts take aim tolerance, dialogue
and efforts of understanding and can make harm more than expected" .

"Turkey’s EU membership will be the most important response to this
intolerance that threatens the world. (However) There may be some
negative opinions about Turkey, especially in some countries during
election period. We have to be prepared to these" he added.

-MEETING WITH EUROPEAN SOCIALISTS-

Meanwhile, Babacan had a meeting with The Party of European Socialists
(PES) group co-chairman, Finnish Parliament Speaker Paavo Lipponen
and an accompanying delegation. Turkey-EU relations were reported to
be discussed at the meeting.