BERLIN - "The EU should appreciate Turkey's value," Turkish Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Saturday.
In an interview with the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper, Gul said, "we observe that Germany has been more active in its rotating EU presidency than the previous EU presidencies. Negotiations have been opened on another chapter on Thursday. I hope that three more chapter headings will be opened during Germany's EU presidency. Germany has made significant contributions to our EU process."
"Our efforts are under way to adjust our laws to the EU. Thanks to the membership negotiations, Turkey has been living through a transformation process. I do not know how long this process will take. It will be not us, but the European Commission who will decide when it concludes," he said.
Referring to Turkey-Germany bilateral relations, Gul said, "there are nearly 3 million Turkish people living in Germany. Some of them received dual citizenship. On the other hand, there are 70 thousand German people living in Turkey. More than 4 million German tourists came to Turkey last year for vacation. About 2 thousand German companies have invested in Turkey," he said.
Gul said that he would pay an official visit to Germany between April 3rd and 4th to introduce "e-consulate" service of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"This new service connects all Turkish consulates to each other through internet. It will provide our citizens living abroad with significant facilities," he said.
Upon a question on the conference on Iraq to be held in Istanbul, Gul said, "the conference will take place in the first half of April. During the previous meetings, we have developed a joint policy. Besides officials from the neighboring countries, representatives of the United Nations Security Council's permanent members or of the G-8 countries will also be invited to the conference."
"We are extremely concerned about recent developments in Iraq. The best thing is that the whole world has begun realizing the jeopardy to stem from Iraq's division. Such a division will lead to endless wars. Iraqi people have also understood it," he said.
Replying to a question about the terrorist organization PKK, Gul said, "all parties have acknowledged that the PKK is a terrorist organization. The United States should and must fight against the PKK."
Upon a question about recent crisis between Iran and Britain, Gul said, "we have tried to do everything in our power to ease the tension, and will continue to do so. British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Margaret Beckett paid a visit to Turkey on Tuesday. Together with her, we called the Iranian foreign minister. We requested Iran to release the female sailor. I believe that a solution will be found soon."
When asked whether Turkey needed a missile defense system, Gul said, "as one of the most important and active allies of NATO, Turkey does not consider itself under threat. However, we do not want to see nuclear weapons in our region. Any attempt of nuclear armament will not be beneficial."
Replying to another question on Turkey's role in the Middle East, Gul said, "in the last four years, Turkey has become a 'soft power' in the region as a result of its political reforms, structural reforms, democratization and with its powerful army. Today, Turkey is the 6th biggest economic power of Europe. All countries in the Islam world support Turkey's membership negotiations with the EU."