ANKARA - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that initiatives to start cold war between religions would fail with Turkey's membership to the European Union (EU).
Erdogan said that in spite of September 11 attacks in the United States and bomb attacks in Istanbul, Turkey was continuing on its path and would continue without making concessions from human rights and democracy.
Prime Minister Erdogan gave information about Turkey's studies on Copenhagen criteria and economic field in 2003 in the meeting between Turkish delegation headed by himself and EU Commission delegation headed by EU Commission President Romano Prodi.
Erdogan stressed that although economic criteria were not among the preconditions of Copenhagen criteria, they were positive developments which would at least affect the stance of European public opinion towards Turkey.
Erdogan said that 2004 would be the year for putting into practice the arrangements for adjustment to Copenhagen criteria and they aimed to put things in order on the issue until June, 2004. He recalled that they set up a board comprising of Justice Minister Cemil Cicek and Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu and headed by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul with this aim. He added that Council of Ministers were revising the developments fulfilled on the issue regularly every week.
Erdogan also said that the target for the end of year in inflation was 12 percent and six zeros would be omitted from Turkish Lira in the beginning of 2005.
PRODI: TURKEY'S EU MEMBERSHIP WILL NOT ONLY SHOW THAT ISLAM AND MODERNITY CAN EXIST TOGETHER BUT ALSO THEY CAN EXIST TOGETHER VERY WELL
Erdogan recalled that the obligation of labeling industry goods as ''produced in EU. EU'' in EU member countries was on the agenda in the meeting between Turkish delegation headed by himself and EU Commission delegation headed by Prodi. He said that if such an implementation was to start, Turkey would have to use the same label on Turkish goods as it was the member of Customs Union and due to free circulation of Turkish goods in Europe.
Prodi said that they appreciated and were pleased with economic developments in Turkey. He added that although those developments would not take place in Progress Report in December, they were important in the aspect of its effects on European public opinion.
Noting that EU attributed very much importance to cooperation with different cultures, Prodi said that they desired to make Mediterranean region a peace and cooperation region and Turkey's membership was very significant for that reason.
(GC-AÖ) 15.01.2004