BERLIN - Culture and Tourism Minister Erkan Mumcu visited the International Tourism Stock Exchange Fair in German capital Berlin.
After his meetings with representatives of Turkish and German travel agencies, Mumcu visited on Saturday stands of Turkey, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Greece, Portugal and the United States.
He told reporters, ``after visiting the other stands, I understood that the most beautiful stand at the fair belongs to Turkey. We should permanently renew ourselves in the tourism sector. We expect nearly 16.5 million foreign tourists to visit Turkey this year.``
MUMCU: THE REAL PROBLEM IS NOT TURKEY`S MEMBERSHIP, BUT EU`S ENLARGEMENT PROCESS
Mumcu said, ``the real problem is not Turkey`s EU membership, but it is the EU`s enlargement process. It is the problem whether the EU would include Turkey or not. The EU should not restrict globalization in the context of universal values. Drawing a border line between the Islam and the Christianity will be a very serious mistake.``
Mumcu said, ``we should review prejudices in our relations with the EU. When we take into consideration the common values including rationalism, humanism and democracy, we see that these values do not depend on geography. These values belong to whole humanity. Unfortunately, some European intellectuals and politicians assess Europe within narrow geographical borders. The important dimension is cultural integration of Turkey to Europe.``
Mumcu is expected to hold a news conference later on Sunday.
(UK-MS) 14.03.2004