BAKU/ANKARA - Justice Minister and government spokesman Cemil Cicek said on Monday that Turkey should be given a date to start negotiations with European Union (EU) in 2004.
Cicek chatted with reporters aboard plane en route from Azerbaijan, where he attended funeral of former Azerbaijani President Haydar Aliyev, to Turkey.
Justice Minister Cicek said that Turkey should be given a date to start negotiations with EU in 2004 and added, ''otherwise, it will be a discrimination. The final stage of discrimination in radicalism.''
Evaluating capture of Saddam Hussein, leader of overthrown Iraqi regime, Cicek said that democracy was ''as necessary as oxygen'' for Islam countries.
Cicek noted that when people looked at Islam geography, they could see that Islam countries had every kind of wealth but national income of most of them was below a thousand U.S. dollars.
The reason of this low national income was ''insufficient democracy'', Cicek said.
Cicek stated that dictatorships prevailed since there was not democracy like in Iraq and wished that the pictures and footage they saw on televisions and newspapers would be the last ones.
Stressing that Turkey was an important country, Cicek said that Turkey was the only country in Islam world which had democratic understanding despite some deficiencies.
Cicek stated that Turkish nation never lived as a colony.
Touching on terrorist attacks in Istanbul, Cicek said, ''if some countries complain about radicalism, they should support Turkey. If they don't want to see the ugly face of radicalism, they should support Turkey. Turkey is a very important country for EU. It should be given a negotiation date in 2004. Otherwise, it will be a discrimination. The final stage of discrimination in radicalism.''
Cicek emphasized that EU should not ignore Turkey's positive approach and said that Turkey should be included in EU.
Evaluating yesterday's general election in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Cicek said that a democratic election was held.
Cicek noted that everybody should respect to the result of the election and wished that the result of the election would be for everybody's benefit.
Stating that everybody should get a message from the result of the election, Cicek wished that the result would contribute to solution of Cyprus issue.
(BRC) 15.12.2003