ANKARA - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Monday that Turkey was part of the West and it shared the value system of the EU.
Gul attended the dinner hosted jointly by the American think tank Foreign Affairs Council and Strategic Studies Centre.
Speaking in the opening of the dinner, Gul stated that Turkey was part of many EU and Europe-Atlantic institutions and that it fulfilled one by one the reforms that necessitated that.
Noting that the government would transfer the sixth adjustment package to the parliament on Tuesday, Gul said that Turkey's EU membership was both a technical step and also a means of proving that Muslim societies could also be democratic, pluralist, modern, reformist and transparent. Gul stated that ''we'll prove together that the clash of civilizations is not inevitable.''
Stressing that Turkish economy was already linked to EU with the customs union, Gul stated that the programmes carried out with the World Bank and IMF gave very positive results and that they would accept foreign investors to Turkey with pleasure.
Gul stated that the policies in line of EU membership and U.S. partnership didn't have any alternatives.
Gul pointed out that they wanted Iraq to live in peace internally and with its neighbours, adding that the territorial integrity of this country was very important. Gul stated that Turkey's contributions to reconstruction of Iraq continued and that they were in contact with the U.S. and Britain in this framework.
(Öª) 09.06.2003