CHIEF NEGOTIATOR BAGIS SPEAKS TO SPANISH EL PAIS

Anadolu Agency
May 15 2009
Turkey

MADRID (A.A) - 15.05.2009 - Turkish State Minister & Chief Negotiator
for EU talks Egemen Bagis said on Friday that German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy used Turkey's EU
membership for their domestic policies.

In an exclusive interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, Bagis said he
examined all the laws in effect and all the documents between Turkey
and the EU but could not see a "privileged partnership" expression
in the documents.

Bagis said all the Muslim world was closely following process of
Turkey's EU membership. "Turkey is eager to be a center for peace,"
he added.

Commenting on dialogue process between Turkey and Armenia, Bagis said,
"a stable cooperation is needed between Azerbaijan and Armenia to
maintain the dialogue. Turkey proposed a stability pact for the
Caucasus. We believe that solving the problems on negotiation table
is the best solution. Turkey wants to be a center in energy flow from
the Caspian Sea to Europe."

Bagis also said Turkey did not have a Kurdish problem, but a terrorism
problem.