ANKARA - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan returned from Portugal to Ankara early on Thursday.
Together with Erdogan, state ministers Ali Babacan and Kursad Tuzmen, businessmen and reporters returned to Turkey.
Making a statement at Ankara's Esenboga Airport, Erdogan said, ''our Portuguese friends clearly state that they fully support Turkey's European Union membership.''
Recalling that a Turkish prime minister had paid an official visit to Portugal for the first time, Erdogan said that he had visited Portugal prior to the EU Copenhagen Summit, adding that friendly relations between Turkey and Portugal had a five hundred years history.
Noting that extraordinary interest had been shown in businessmen and government members in Portugal, Erdogan said that he strongly believed that bilateral relations would enter a more dynamic era after his visit.
Stating that the Portuguese Prime Minister would visit Turkey in 2004 spring, Erdogan said that visit of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to Portugal in autumn and later visit of General Staff Chief Gen. Hilmi Ozkok to Portugal were planned.
Noting that bilateral economic and commercial ties would be strengthened in addition to frequent mutual visits, Erdogan said that steps that aimed to enable cooperation between Turkish and Portuguese businessmen would also be taken.
Stating that he had held positive meetings with Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso and Parliament Speaker Joao Bosco Mota Amaral, Erdogan said that they had discussed current regional and international issues, and they had taken up latest developments about Iraq, Israel-Palestine and Cyprus issues.
''Turkey's EU membership was the main topic of our meetings. We explained political reforms in Turkey in detail to our Portuguese interlocutors. I want to mention that our Portuguese friends clearly state their full support to Turkey's EU membership,'' the Prime Minister said. Noting that they had had the opportunity of informing a group of Portuguese businessmen on Turkey's economic and commercial potential, Erdogan said that Turkish businessmen had meet Portuguese businessmen under a seminar on 'Turkey-Portugal: New Opportunities From Cooperation to Partnership''.
Erdogan added that they had also signed an agreement that mutually granted diplomats' family members the right to work.
(MS-AÖ) 03.07.2003