ISTANBUL - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan returned to Turkey from Germany on Friday night.
Speaking to reporters upon his arrival in Istanbul, Erdogan said that he went to Germany on January 8 to participate in the International Bertelsmann Forum held between 9-10 January.
Erdogan said that important issues that were on the agenda of the EU were taken up in the forum.
''In my speech in the forum I stated that the halt in EU Intergovernmental Conference process was worrying and that we would do our best to overcome that. I told that Turkey which would be integrated with EU would assume an indispensable role in preventing possible political and cultural differences in a broad geography and contribute significantly to peace, stability and security of European continent and EU's transformation into a global power,'' he said.
Erdogan noted that he also met with Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Saneder, EU Term President Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, EU Commissioner Guenter Verheugen and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.
''My visit has been very positive in respect of improvement of our relations with Europe,'' Erdogan said.
Upon questions of reporters asking about the letter sent by U.S. President Bush to Greek, Greek Cypriot leaders and also to him, Erdogan said ''Cyprus, Iraq and terrorism are important issues that will be taken up during my meeting with Mr. Bush.''
(Öª) 10.01.2004