EDIRNE - German Consul General in Istanbul Reiner Mockelmann said on Monday that Germany gave full support to Turkey`s European Union (EU) membership.
Mockelmann visited Edirne Mayor Cengiz Varnatopu and replied to questions of A.A correspondent.
When asked his evaluations about Turkey`s EU membership, Mockelmann said that Germany gave full support to Turkey`s EU membership, adding that German government officials had conveyed this support to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit. He said that Turkey was a very important country for Europe in the aspects of democracy, secularism and economy. He added that Germany was in solidarity with Turkey against terrorist attacks.
Mockelmann said that Turkey has fulfilled an important part of its requirements for EU membership in recent years.
Mockelmann said that recent elections in Cyprus would not change the position of Rauf Denktas, adding that the results of elections would not ease the situation in Cyprus. He said that Cyprus was one of the problems regarding Turkey`s accession to EU, but it was not the only problem. He recalled that it was said that reaching a common point about Cyprus before May would ease Turkey`s accession to EU in Brussels summit.
(GC-AÖ) 15.12.2003