ANKARA - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late on Saturday that the belief that enlargement of the European Union (EU) would further enrich the union in respect to identity and culture, and that this would further increase global profile of Europe was reiterated at Intergovernmental Conference.
Erdogan held a news conference at Ankara's Esenboga Airport at his arrival from Italy.
Erdogan said the meeting was in the presidential and prime ministry level in the morning, and that it was in foreign ministry level in the afternoon.
Erdogan said, ''almost all the countries seemed to reach a compromise on a joint platform at this current stage of Intergovernmental Conference.''
Recalling that Turkey could not participate in those meetings so far, Erdogan said, ''we participated in today's meeting as it happened in Salonica Summit.''
Stating that they had the opportunity to meet with almost all the heads of state and government who participated in the summit, Erdogan said, ''they congratulated us about 6th and 7th adjustment packages. They said they were amazed to see completion of them in such a short period.''
Erdogan said, ''we succeeded in this with the support of people, opposition and NGOs. They told us that there will not be any hesitation when we start to implement the adjustment packages.''
Erdogan said there was a monitoring committee, comprised of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, and Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu in this respect,'' and noted that this committee would monitor the practices, and that the government would overcome the problems.
Erdogan said a final statement was in question about the summit in Rome, noting that, ''according to this statement, as the heads of state and government of 28 European countries, the will to make international role of the union more effective was put forward. The belief that enlargement would further enrich the union in respect to culture and identity, and that it would increase global profile of Europe was reiterated.''
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 also attended dinner hosted for participants of Intergovernmental Conference.
(AY) 05.10.2003