"EU SHOULD NOT FEAR US," SAYS TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER

EUX.TV, Netherlands
April 10 2007

BRUSSELS (EUX.TV) — Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has urged
politicians in the European Union not to further encourage fears for
Turkey, saying he fails to understand why people would have second
thoughts about Turkey’s EU membership.

In an interview with the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, Gul
also said Turkey was disappointed to find out that it was not invited
to the EU’s 50th anniversary celebration in Berlin last month.

The minister said he feels it’s too early to make firm statements
about EU membership of his country because it still has to make
improvements in its democracy and economy.

"The EU should not fear us. EU membership for Turkey is not an
automatic process. At the end of the negotiations, Turkey will have a
higher level of democracy and a better economy, and then Europe will
decide about membership of Turkey."

"Why are so many people and so many politicians already so critical
of Turkey? I do not understand this," he said in the interview.

Gul also said that Turkey in some areas already is ahead of several EU
member states. "We for example already meet the Maastricht criteria,"
he said, referring to the criteria countries must meet before they
can adopt the euro as their currency.

He acknowledged that enthusiasm for the EU in Turkey has diminished
after the negotiations were partially frozen at the end of last year,
saying that Turkey has experienced this as an insult.

Reform "is important for us"

Gul pointed out however that this development has not endangered the
reform process in Turkey. "We’re not changing our laws to satisfy
the EU, but because it’s important for us. That’s why we do it."

Asked about the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink
earlier this year, Gul said that Europe should not worry about a new
wave of nationalism in Turkey, pointing to "an incredible wave of
protest" after the murder.

Gul told the German newspaper that the Ankara government is considering
changing Article 301 from the Turkish penal code, which forbids
insults to Turkishness. He said that no one has been arrested on the
basis of this article so far.