Erdogan: Heads Of State And Government Who Participated In The Summit Think The Text Of Draft Constitutional Treaty Reflect A General Compromise

ROME - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that heads of state and government who participated in the summit in Rome, were of the same opinion that text of the Draft Constitutional Treaty reflected a general compromise.
Erdogan held a news conference after the conference held in Rome.
Erdogan said he and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul participated in conference in Rome which was held by the Convention to discuss Draft Constitional Treaty.
Stating that Turkey so far was contended with covering the meetings on Constitutional Treaty, which played an important role in structuring of Europe, as ''future member'', Erdogan said, ''Turkey, by participating in the conference under equal status with candidate countries, has taken place in this historical process.''
Erdogan said, ''heads of state and government, who participated in the summit, stated that they shared the view that there was no need to open Constitutional Treaty to discussion again. We have disclosed our views on some issues which could not be agreed on and other issues that were on the agenda.''
Erdogan said as the heads of state and government of 28 countries they had announced a document and revealed the will of the union to make its international role more effective.''We also reiterated that the union would increase global profile of Europe,'' he stated.
Erdogan said, ''Draft Constitutional Treaty formed a basis for compromise and revaled our agreement on the issue.''
Recalling that a directive was given to complete text of Draft Constitutional Treaty before elections in EU Parliament that would take place in June 2004, Erdogan said heads of state and government would cover and direct the studies of the intergovernmental conference till the end of this year.
Erdogan said the first summit would take place between October 16 and 17, and that the second would take place between December 12 and 13 in Brussels.
Erdogan said, ''I would like to reiterate my belief once again that Constitutional Treaty would turn the EU an important political and economic actor in international platform, and that EU would be further strengthened with the realistic strategy that was formed with the enlargement process which Turkey is included in.''
Erdogan said he had held bilateral contacts with almost all the heads of state and government of countries who participated in the conference.
(AY) 04.10.2003