President Sezer In Croatia

SEZER MEETS CROATIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER TOMCIC

ZAGREB - President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said on Thursday that basis of democratic systems was the will of people, and that the place where this will became concrete was the parliaments comprised of representatives of people. He said, ''success of pluralist democracies depends on control and balancing of forces.
President Sezer met with Croatian Parliament Speaker Zlatko Tomcic, and later Sezer addressed Croatian Parliament's General Assembly.
Delivering a speech in the General Assembly, Sezer said Turkey, which has adopted parliamentary republican regime in 1923, learned with its own experiences that national sovereignty and pluralist democracy contributed a lot to the development of the society. Sezer said Turkey takes determined steps to further increase its pluralist democracy and personal rights and freedoms.
Sezer said basis of democratic systems was the will of people, stating that, ''in societies which has democratic traditions, none of the forces is above the will of people. Parliaments are places where this will becomes concrete.''
Sezer said Croatian Parliament had to undertake a historical responsibility beyond assignment to improve democracy. He said this assignment was to increase importance of our parliaments in political systems.
Sezer said the countries could not exclude themselves from the geographies they are located in, and from their histories, stating that from time to time, this caused the countries to undertake responsibilities despite developments experienced beyond their borders.
Stating that relations of Turkey and Croatia with the Balkans had such kind of characteristic, Sezer said this special location should be used to consolidate peace and stability in the region.
Sezer said, ''our countries exerted intense efforts to re-build peace and stability in Southeastern Europe. Joint efforts of Turkey and Croatia in this respect were appreciated by the international community.''
He said, ''our joint geography, the Balkans reached a hope inspiring peace and stability atmosphere. However, as this positive atmosphere keeps its fragility, all the nations in Europe should act sensitively.''
Stressing that Turkey, which is at the same time a Caucasian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean country, has a rooted Balkan identity, Sezer said, ''to this end, strengthening of peace and stability atmosphere and development of joint cooperation projects are important.''
Pointing out the importance of bilateral cooperation between Turkey and Croatia on the way to peace and stability, as well as cooperation in multilateral process, Sezer said, ''we believe that this cooperation will be further improved on the basis of mutual benefits of all regional countries.''
Sezer said developments experienced in the international atmosphere following September 11 terrorist attacks diverted the attention of the world public to other regions, stating that, ''we think this should not decrease interest and support of the international community to our region.''
Sezer said Turkey has been in special relations with the European Union (EU) for 40 years, stating that with the Customs Union, which took effect in 1996, economic integration of Turkey with the EU was increased to the highest levels, and that efforts exerted for full membership were accelerated.
Sezer said that NATO membership of Croatia would bring a new dimension to the relations between two countries.
Noting that Turkey defended that all countries, which fulfilled the necessary conditions for NATO membership in Balkans, should take part in NATO, Sezer said, ''we believe that the door, which was opened to regional countries with NATO memberships of Bulgaria and Romania, should continue to be kept open. I would like to emphasize one more time that we carry on to support the efforts of Croatia.''
Sezer said that the inclination of nearly all of Southeast European countries to unite with Europe-Atlantic structures would make the region as the sign of peace, prosperity and stability by removing negative meaning of the concept ''Balkanization'. He added that the necessary reconstruction process for NATO and EU membership required removal of all threats towards the security of Southeast Europe peoples. He said that fight against organized crimes and terrorism in the region became an obligation.
Noting that clashes in the region through 1990s caused organized crime networks to develop and forming of asymmetric threats overflowing out of the region, Sezer said, ''Southeast Europe was remembered with organized crime network, besides clashes. What is striking here is the close relation between the reconstruction of organized crime networks and the groups which have radical nationalist statements. Organized crime networks are supporting radical nationalist formations to create an appropriate milieu for their own activities and these radical nationalists are depending on financial and material support provided by organized crime networks to survive.''
''Thus, it is an obligation to be in cooperation and solidarity on every level to show determination in fight against organized crime and radical statements which can find a place easily especially in societies that have low prosperity level, and to prevent them to cause bigger problems for our nations and region. Turkey, as a country which have suffered from terrorism too much, is ready for cooperation with every country in this issue,'' noted Sezer.
Noting that political relations between Turkey and Croatia reached to a very good level, Sezer said, ''I was pleased to see that we are in joint determination to increase our relations in economy, trade and culture to the level of our political relations level in our meetings with President Mesic and other Croatian officials.''
Sezer said that Turkey, with its 70 millions of young and dynamic population and foreign trade volume reaching 80 billion U.S. dollars, could be an appropriate economic partner to Croatia. He added, ''however, although Turkey's total trade volume with Southeast European countries has reached 2.6 billion dollars, we see that the share of Croatia remains nine million dollars in Turkey's import and 42 million dollars in Turkey's export.''
''88 percent of our trade with Southeast European countries is made with the countries which we have free trade agreement. Thus, I believe that Free Trade agreement which comes into effect as of July 1, 2003 will have an important contribution to trade relations between our countries. Another promising development regarding our economic and commercial relations is the meeting which Turkey-Croatia Business Council will hold today. I wish that the meeting, in which we will attend with President Mesic, will bring acceleration to the cooperation between our private sectors,'' noted Sezer.
Sezer said, ''the cooperation opportunities in economy field between Turkey and Croatia should not be considered limited with the population and markets of two countries. These cooperation opportunities should be considered and evaluated as directed towards neighbor countries and regions of our countries. We think that our economic and commercial relations and cooperations are including broad facilities in a geography extending from Central Asia to Central Europe.''
Sezer thanked for warm hospitality of Croatia in his first visit to that country and said, ''I wish success to you in your efforts for Croatian people's well-being and prosperity and I am greeting all of you with most sincere feelings.''
(AY-GC-AÖ) 03.07.2003