NAPLES - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Saturday that if the European Union (EU) Constitution was going to mention Christianity, it should also mention Judaism and Islam.
Gul, who attended EU Intergovernmental Conference in Naples, Italy, held a press conference. He said that the Conference was one of the last meetings which was held under the EU term presidency of Italy and the last meeting before the EU summit to be held in December.
Gul said that EU ministers aimed to complete discussions on EU Constitution and present them to the EU summit. He added that everybody told their views for two days and many issues including defense and structural arrangements in EU draft Constitution were taken up, but there were still many issues which were not clear yet.
Noting that many discussions were made in the conference regarding the reference to Christian origins of Europe, Gul said that a kind of religious discussion was made during the conference.
Gul said that ''some countries including the Czech Republic, Spain and Poland want introduction part of the EU Constitution to openly refer to Christian culture and Christianity. Greece opposed that saying there were many religions in Europe adding a comprehensive expression would be more suitable. France and Belgium continue to oppose strongly making a reference to Christianity. I also had the opportunity to explain my views about the discussions.''
Summing up his views about the issue which he voiced to his European counterparts during the conference, Gul said that ''I told them that the issue would be solved with the existing form in the Constitution draft. I stated that it would be wrong to refer to a certain religion particularly in the introduction part of a constitution. I told those who want clear reference to Christianity that the history of Europe had to be examined, because there were not only Christians, but Muslims and Jewish in the history of Europe. Islam had important traces in both the history and also in many regions of Europe. I told them those facts could not be ignored. Therefore if the constitution has to mention Christianity, it should also refer to Judaism and Islam.''
Noting that Muslims lived in Europe throughout the history and they left important traces there, there was a significant Muslim population in the Balkans and today Muslim people settled in Europe by migration, Gul said ''if the constitution is going to mention Christianity, the two other religions should not be forgotten. In such a case, three religions had to be mentioned. But we prefer the draft to remain with its existing form as a secular constitution.''
TURKEY TO UNDERTAKE ITS RESPONSIBILITY IN EU ISSUE
Gul said that he asked his European colleagues to reflect their condolence and solidarity messages following attacks in Istanbul on their activities as well.
Giving information about his bilateral meetings, Gul said, ''during my bilateral meetings, all of my colleagues expressed their sorrow over the incidents in Istanbul. I told them we are pleased with their messages and support. However, I told them it was necessary to reflect those messages of support on their activities because this solidarity was not seen in practice. I especially told all ministers whom I met that concessions were given to terrorism by the decision of UEFA which moved matches in Turkey to neutral venue. I emphasized that we considered that as a very dangerous development.''
Touching on the EU Summit which will be held in Brussels in December, Gul said that he asked the support of his colleagues for use of the best expressions in the paragraph on Turkey in the summit. He added that his colleagues' giving a clear message about Turkey's EU process was also important.
Gul said that ''I told my counterparts that the government would do its best about the EU issue. If we have deficiencies, we are not uneasy when these shortcomings are told to us. We will overcome all of our deficiencies until the end of the year 2004. All of the political criteria will be met. We will do what the other candidates did. But after that if a negative attitude is shown towards Turkey, we can't accept it.''
Noting that Turkey didn't expect any favouritism from EU, Gul said that ''I told them that they had to treat us objectively like other candidate countries. After doing our mission, if a different result comes out in December 2004, this will be a very big turning point in relations between Turkey and EU, I explained that.''
Speaking about his meeting with Foreign Minister Brian Cowen of Ireland which will take over EU Term Presidency after Italy, Gul said that the most critical decisions about Turkey's EU process would be taken during the term presidency of Ireland.
''We had the opportunity to take up all issues with my Irish counterpart. I gave information to him broadly and he had a very understanding approach,'' he said. During his meeting with Cowen, he saw that Irish people were aware of the importance of Turkey, he said adding that ''Irish people consider Turkey from a strategic aspect. Irish minister himself mentioned issues like harmony among civilizations and Muslim identity of Turkey during the meeting. We talked about these issues broadly. I saw that my Irish colleague was aware of the tolerance, the tradition of living together, modernization in Turkey and the role our party plays in that regard. He attributes great importance to these issues, we had a good meeting.''
Gul added that in addition to Cyprus, various issues which concerned EU and Council of Europe also came to agenda during his bilateral contacts, adding ''I informed my European counterparts about these issues and asked their support.''
GUL: ALL RESPONSIBILITY IN CYPRUS ISSUE CAN'T ONLY BE PUT ON SHOULDERS OF TURKISH SIDE
When a reporter made the interpretation that it would be difficult to give a negotiation date to Turkey for EU in the end of 2004, if Cyprus issue was not solved, Gul said that they were in favor of solution.
Gul said that he discussed Cyprus issue with all his colleagues including Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou during his bilateral meetings in Naples.
Gul said that Turkey's expressions were very clear about this issue, adding that there were elections in Cyprus, the elections would be democratic and Turkish side would work for solution sincerely after the elections. He said that he reminded all of these to his European colleagues and also told them that solution would not be unilateral. He added that Greek Cypriot side was trying to save time as it would enter EU in any case, adding that Greek Cypriot side should show the same realistic reconciliation as well. Gul said that he hoped that a solution would be reached and the problem would be solved, but all responsibility could not be put on the shoulders of Turkish side.
Gul said that Turkey's EU membership could not be connected to Cyprus issue, adding that ''we will do our best to solve the issue and everybody will see that. But solution can't be one sided. We favour solution of the issue. Our Prime Minister says from the beginning that insolubility is not a solution.''
Upon a question, Gul said that they were exerting significant efforts to reach compromise in Loizidou case, adding that ''we could not reach a compromise yet, but we launch great efforts to this end. I hope a positive development will take place about Loizidou case next week.''
Gul stressed that it was an important case, adding that ''but there are certain issues which should be taken into consideration. There is no full compromise on the issue. I hope we can reach a compromise in line with our proposal, because we launched great efforts for that.''
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(GC-Öª) 29.11.2003