Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an: Turkey will not agree on `half-membership’
10.01.2010 18:05 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey is ready to assume full EU membership, yet
will not agree on `half-membership’ only, said Turkish Premier Recep
Tayyip ErdoÄ?an .
`In case of joining the EU, Ankara will not turn into a burden, but
will rather assume it. Yet, should EU set new conditions or offer
restricted membership, we’ll refuse from joining the European family.
We fulfilled agreement terms, it’s now time for EU to meet its
obligations,’ he stated.
At the same time, the Premier expressed his support for Turkey’s
assuming EU membership, Radio Svoboda reported.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
have publicly expressed their opposition to the EU’s enlargement to
include Turkey, offering "a privileged partnership" instead of full
membership.
The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27
member states, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional
integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1
November 1993 upon the foundations of the European Economic Community.
Turkey’s application to accede to the European Union (previously the
European Communities) was made on 14 April 1987. Turkey has been an
associate member of the European Union (EU) and its predecessors since
1963. After the ten founding members, Turkey was one of the first
countries to become a member of the Council of Europe in 1949, and was
also a founding member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) in 1961 and the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 1973. The country has also been an
associate member of the Western European Union since 1992, and is a
part of the "Western Europe" branch of the Western European and Others
Group (WEOG) at the United Nations. Turkey signed a Customs Union
agreement with the EU in 1995 and was officially recognized as a
candidate for full membership on 12 December 1999, at the Helsinki
summit of the European Council. Negotiations were started on 3 October
2005, and the process, should it be in Turkey’s favor, is likely to
take at least a decade to complete. The membership bid has become a
major controversy of the ongoing enlargement of the European Union.