ISTANBUL - Turkey supported every kind of road map for Middle East, Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc said on Tuesday.
Arinc participated in the Chairmanship Council Meeting of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (COEPA) held in Istanbul.
Turkish Parliament Speaker Arinc stated that Turkey wanted peace in the Middle East.
Arinc noted that there were other terrorist incidents behind each terrorist incident.
There was an urgent need for peace process in the Middle East, Arinc stressed.
Arinc said that Turkey wanted to play a role in the Middle East and would support every kind of road map to be proposed to solve the regional problems.
Noting that there were both Turkish-Palestinian and Turkish-Israeli Interparliamentary Friendship Groups, Arinc said that those groups would pay visits to both Israel and Palestine at the end of the month.
Upon a question, Arinc said that the European Union (EU) should give a date to start full membership negotiations with Turkey at the end of 2004 and added that Turkey's EU membership process should not be made a tool for domestic politics.
(BRC-AY) 06.04.2004