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  • Turkey expects EU to fulfill duties: FM

    Xinhua, China
    The People's Daily, China
    Oct 1 2005

    Turkey expects EU to fulfill duties: FM



    Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Turkey had fulfilled its
    responsibilities on the road to the European Union membership,
    expecting the EU to do the same and conclude Turkey's entry process
    positively.

    Gul made the statements as Britain, which currently holds the
    six-month rotating EU presidency, has called an emergency meeting of
    EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Sunday in a bid to end the
    bickering over the guiding principles of Turkey's accession talks.

    "I cannot say anything definite about whether negotiations will be
    opened in a few days. They may or may not be launched," Gul told
    reporters late Friday.

    Turkey's entry talks are scheduled to start on Oct. 3. EU foreign
    ministers must agree on a negotiating mandate for Turkey to begin
    talks at the Sunday emergency meeting, less than 24 hours away from
    the scheduled negotiation date.

    EU member state Austria insists that the ministerial talks aim for a
    "privileged partnership" with Turkey instead of full membership.

    Ankara rejects any second-class treatment. Gul warned that the
    Turkish government did not think Turkey should join the EU in this
    case.

    "A partnership between the EU and Turkey would not be established if
    the EU did not keep its promises, if leaders of the EU member states
    forgot they had signed several documents or neglected their
    signatures due to some reasons, and if they brought forward new
    conditions which could never be accepted by Turkey," said Gul.

    "We want to start negotiations, and we are working for this but
    within the framework of the realities," Gul added.

    The foreign minister also said Turkey had held meetings with leaders
    of several EU member states, including Britain.

    "I hope that this honest attitude of Turkey will be responded in the
    similar way. And the entry process will go in the right track in the
    end," he concluded.

    EU leaders agreed last December that Turkey had carried out necessary
    reforms on human rights, society and economy, which qualify Ankara
    for official EU membership talks.

    But strains flared anew after Ankara reaffirmed in July its refusal
    to recognize the Greek Cypriot government, which joined the EU on
    behalf of the whole island. Ankara recognized the breakaway Turkish
    Cypriot in the north.

    Turkey has also come under pressure to recognize what Armenians call
    a genocide against their people by the Ottoman Empire during and at
    the end of World War I -- an event that remains highly sensitive for
    Turks.
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