ANKARA - Deniz Baykal, the leader of the opposing Republican People's Party (CHP), has met with European Parliament President Pat Cox, who is currently paying an official visit to Turkey as the guest of Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc.
Speaking after the meeting, Baykal said on Tuesday that Cox had expressed his satisfaction over co-operation between ruling and opposition political parties in preparatory works for the European Union (EU) membership and democratization.
''Cox highlighted importance of continuation of the co-operation between ruling and opposition political parties after opening of accession talks with the EU,'' he said.
Reminding that the Cyprus issue was also taken up at the meeting, Baykal said, ''I drew attention of Cox to our expectations from the EU about the Cyprus issue. As you know, if the negotiation process in the island results in an agreement, this agreement should be taken under guarantee against the EU regulations. There is need for EU organs and even each EU member countries to take decision on validity of this agreement in their national assemblies. It requires great effort and time. I underlined the importance of this issue.''
Baykal quoted Cox as saying that he considered it very important and they would do necessary studies on this issue.
Stating that Cox asked them where Turkey's concern on Cyprus issue stemmed from in the meeting, Baykal said, ''we said that we are expecting protection of bizonality, guarantees and making borders straight and we also said that we are expecting a result from Cyprus negotiations that way. If those results are to come out, following developments will be more important. He noted those things.''
Replying to a question, Baykal said that Leyla Zana, former deputy of the Democracy Party (DEP), who was in prison was not brought onto the agenda in the meeting.
(UK-EÖ-AÖ) 02.03.2004