ISTANBUL - German-Turkish Parliamentary Friendship Group Chairperson Claudia Roth said on Friday that reform laws which were adopted recently in Turkey should not remain on paper and Turkey should put them into practice.
Roth evaluated her visit to Turkey in a press conference at German Consulate General in Istanbul. She said that they held beneficial meetings with government officials, non-governmental organizations of minorities and the officials in southeast Diyarbakir province.
Roth said that reform laws which were adopted recently in Turkey should not remain on paper and Turkey should put them into practice.
Noting that Turkey should be given a negotiation date in the end of this year and Turkey needed this, Roth said that however Turkey should not make any concessions from its reform process. She added that Turkey's membership to the European Union (EU) was necessary not only for itself, but also for the interests of the EU and Germany. She said that full membership of Turkey in the EU as a democratic country would strengthen the Union. She added that a democratic Turkey in EU community of values, which was respectful to human rights and protecting minority rights, would be an important model for Middle East and Near East.
(GC-AÖ) 14.05.2004