Turkish State Minister and EU chief negotiator Ali Babacan said Tuesday that greater democracy and openness represent Türkiye's only viable path forward, dismissing alternative political arrangements as unworkable and destined to fail.
On EU relations, Babacan argued that the bloc's December 2006 decisions on Türkiye were driven by politics rather than the technical merits of the accession process. He said Ankara is now separating the formal membership track from its domestic reform agenda and setting its own timetable, noting that full compliance with membership criteria no longer guarantees the process will advance at the pace Türkiye expects.
Regarding the upcoming presidential vote, Babacan dismissed lingering concerns about the AKP, pointing to four years of government experience as sufficient evidence of the party's intentions. He said Türkiye's open economy and society make any hidden agenda effectively impossible to sustain.
On economic matters, Babacan said the privatization of Halkbank is on track to be completed before general elections, while delays in the electricity distribution sell-off were attributed to technical rather than political factors. He added that roughly 1 million Iranian tourists visit Türkiye annually, citing the country's democratic and open environment as a key draw.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in January 2007, in its own words.