ANKARA - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul gave the message to the European Union (EU) that Turkey would start to put reforms into practice until May 2004.
Gul conveyed the last point that was reached in EU process in Turkey during his contacts in Italy and emphasized that Turkey was determined to put the reforms into practice.
Gul said that the process regarding the practice of reforms would be completed in the first four months of 2004.
Iraq and Middle East issues were taken up besides Turkey's EU process during the meetings.
Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana criticized the absence of Turkey in the meetings of foreign ministers of EU member countries on the issues of Middle East and Iraq.
Noting that those issues could not be taken up without Turkey, Geoana said that while there was a country like Turkey which knew the issue better than all EU countries, it was necessary to share the experience and information of Turkey.
Meanwhile, Gul sent a letter to Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom two days ago regarding the Middle Eastern peace process and said that developments turned the process into an impossible situation.
Evaluating his contacts regarding the issue, Gul said that everybody did everything to make peace unsuccessful and added that peace could not be settled with a weak interlocutor.
Gul emphasized that the developments were causing uneasiness and sides should did their best.
Regarding the Iraq issue, Gul said that those who went to Iraq were interested in their own security and did not attribute importance to the needs of Iraqi people and they also did not listen to those who wanted to be interested in this issue.
Noting that Turkey did not have an ambitious condition to send soldiers to Iraq, Gul said that Turkish soldiers would go to Iraq when Turkey believed that everything would be well with its contribution.
Gul said, ''we do not have any interest; our only benefit is settling peace and tranquility in Iraq.''
Diplomatic sources said that there was an expectation that the United Nations Security Council member countries would reach an agreement on Iraq issue and added that France and Russia were not expected to cause a problem.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer was against the opinion that NATO would be included in Iraq process.
During his meeting with Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, Gul gave the message regarding the customs union framework agreement signed between Turkey and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) that the events should not be exaggerated very much.
(GC-BRC) 07.09.2003