, Turkey
Nov 28 2008

Heart of Turkey-EU talks "democratization": Lagendijk

Lagendijk referred to Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks and
said that the major goal was to bring "first-class democracy" to
Turkey. Friday, 28 November 2008 15:39

A member of the European Parliament said Friday that the heart of
entry talks between Turkey and the EU was not economy or strategy but
democratization.

At a joint press conference with Turkish co-Chairman Yasar Yakis at
the end of the 60th meeting of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary
Committee, co-Chairman Joost Lagendijk said that the heart of the
project to get Turkey closer to EU was democracy and higher democratic
standards.

Lagendijk referred to Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks and
said that the major goal was to bring "first-class democracy" to
Turkey.

He also said that recent years witnessed less reforms in Turkey and
stated that the Union expected the Turkish government to be more
active and make more democratic reforms especially in freedom of
speech, minority rights, and military’s role in politics.

Lagendijk also said that the European Parliament welcomed Turkish
President Abdullah Gul’s visit to Armenian capital Yerevan and added
that the EU was monitoring steps for dialogue.

In his part, Turkish co-Chairman of the committee Yasar Yakis thanked
Lagendijk for his contributions to process between Turkey and EU as it
was the last meeting Lagendijk co-chaired during his committee
membership over the past seven years.

AA