ANKARA - Former Greek foreign minister Teodoros Pangalos said on Friday that opening of European Union (EU) full membership negotiations with Turkey at the end of 2004 was possible.
Pangalos, who is in Ankara to watch Congress of Republican People's Party (CHP), told A.A correspondent that Turkey still had time to totally meet Copenhagen criteria.
Stressing importance of political will for fulfillment of Copenhagen criteria, Pangalos said that Turkish government had that political will.
Pangalos pointed to importance of ''implementation process'' and said that the sooner Turkey took action, the better it would be.
Starting membership talks with EU at the end of 2004 depended on Turkey's efforts, Pangalos stated.
Pangalos expressed pleasure to see reform packages in Turkey and claimed that ''there were still some steps to be taken in some fields like the influence of soldiers on politics.''
Stating that Cyprus issue had an important place in the same period, Pangalos said that Annan Plan should not be ignored in solution of the issue.
Pangalos noted that he was not totally satisfied with the plan but that the plan was the best among those which had been submitted so far although it had some shortcomings.
Stressing importance of co-existence of two people on the island and settlement of confidence, Pangalos said, ''we are talking about marriage of interests not a marriage of love.''
Pointing to strategic importance of solution of Cyprus issue, Pangalos said that Cyprus was not a precondition for Turkey's EU process.
But, Pangalos claimed, ''it would not be right for a country which had military presence on the island to expect to become an EU member.''
Pangalos said that Cyprus issue was the ''main issue'' between Turkey and Greece and claimed that issues like Aegean or air space were ''artificially created issues.''
Settlement of Cyprus issue as soon as possible and accession of a united Cyprus to EU were important, Pangalos stated.
Pangalos noted that the issue could be solved till May 2004 by a dynamic approach.
Evaluating Turkish-Greek relations, Pangalos expressed pleasure with the positive dialogue process between two countries and said that especially economic and commercial cooperation were for the benefit of two countries.
Pangalos noted that two countries should continue that dialogue in cooperation.
Pangalos, who did not want to comment on decision of Turkey to send soldiers to Iraq, said that Turkey was Iraq's neighbor and therefore, it was normal that it was approaching the issue in a different way than Greece.
Pangalos said that they could understand Turkey's concerns over Iraq issue.
Greece would not send soldiers to Iraq but could only extend humanitarian assistance, Pangalos pointed out.
Pangalos noted that ''they did not like being pushed into conflicts without being convinced.''
When reminded about his criticisms of Turkey when he was the foreign minister of Greece, Pangalos said that he was pleased to see developments in Turkey today.
Pangalos noted that he was the only person who opposed to some views in the European Commission in the past that Turkey should not be included in EU since it was a Muslim country.
(BRC-AY) 24.10.2003