EU DIPLOMAT SAYS CERTAIN OPTIMISM FELT IN TURKEY’S INTEGRATION

Panorama.am
11:48 17/04/2009

There has been observed the second wind in Turkey’s integration to
the European Union, Chairman of EU-Turkey Delegation in European
Parliament Joost Lagendijk said. "A new feeling of optimism has been
observed in EU," Lagendijk said. Lagendijk voiced five main steps,
which allowed to look fresh at Turkey’s integration. One of the steps
is the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and head of
the leading opposition party -Republican People’s Party Deniz Baikal
to Brussels in early of the year. During the visit Erdogan and Baikal
explained that the EU is still top priority for Turkey, Lagendijk
said. Another important issue was called Kurdish language national
television, which is seen as an important step forward to solve the
Kurdish issue, was opened. The talks between Turkey and Armenia are
seen from a very positive in restoring diplomatic relations and opening
of borders, which will help not only to Turkey’s accession to EU, but
also resolution to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The talks on Turkey’s
accession to the EU were launched in 2005. According to experts, Turkey
will become the EU full member within 1-15 years. The main obstacle
on Turkey’s way is territorial disputes with the Greek Cyprus, which
occurred as a result of division of the island into two parts in 1974.