ANKARA - Ambassadors of EU member and candidate countries to Turkey asked Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul some questions on Cyprus, public reform law, judiciary reforms, education in mother tongue, torture and developments in Iraq during a luncheon hosted by Gul in honor of ambassadors on Thursday.
Sources said that ambassadors asked Gul to talk about Turkey's ''road map'' on the Cyprus question. Gul said that they continued to carry out works on this issue.
''You know our work. You see that we are ready for negotiations by referring to the Annan plan. We are working to form a position. We want the solution. We are doing our utmost on this issue,'' sources quoted Gul as saying.
Gul said that there could not be a unilateral compromise on this issue and the other side should also exert similar efforts which were exerted by Turkey and stated that the solution could only be reached through this way.
EU Commission Representative in Turkey Hansjorg Kretschmer asked that ''if the EU said 'no' to Turkey in December, what would happen?''
Gul said that they did not expect 'no' from the Union and stated that they could not explain such a decision to Turkish people and anyone.
When EU ambassadors asked the urgency of judiciary reform for Turkish government, Foreign Minister Gul said that this issue was among priorities of the government.
Gul said that judiciary was the most ''conservative'' institution and added that reforms in this field would be fulfilled.
Ambassadors also asked question on torture, Gul said that they were very sensitive about this issue and underlined that they would not show any tolerance on this issue.
Stressing that Council of Ministers discussed EU issue in its every meeting, he informed ambassadors about ''reform follow-up group'' which was set up to follow implementations.
When an ambassador said whether or not courses for education in mother tongue would be opened in some definite places, Gul said that those courses would be opened everywhere.
Ambassadors also asked Gul some questions on developments in Iraq.
Swedish Ambassador in Ankara Anne Dismorr asked, ''is the government against ethnic federation in Iraq due to Kurds in Turkey?'' Gul said, ''we don't have any problem with Kurds in Turkey. Our concerns stem from political developments in the region.''
''We are determined to solve our problems through democracy. We trust in our citizens and people,'' he said and noted that an ethnic federation in Iraq would cause many big problems. Gul said that the region could not bear again such a problem and added that not only they, but also everyone started to understand it.
(EÖ-AY) 22.01.2004