Gul: We Do Not Want To Provide Eu With Any Excuse

ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul has said, ''our efforts to adjust Turkey to the European Union (EU) have been continuing rapidly. We do not want to provide the EU with any excuses.''
Together with Justice Minister Cemil Cicek and Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu, Gul attended the meeting of the EU Reform Follow-up Group on Monday.
Holding a press conference following the meeting, Gul told reporters, ''we have reached a very important period in Turkey-the EU relations. Accession talks should start at the end of the year. In fact, the EU decided to open accession talks with Turkey in 2002. The date of opening of accession talks will be set during the EU's summit in December. The EU Commission's progress report for Turkey will have a significant impact on EU's decision.''
''The EU will assess whether or not Turkey has fulfilled the political criteria in the progress report. Turkey has made a series of constitutional amendments and adopted a number of laws. It is the government's prior duty to put them into practice in the best way. Therefore, the Reform Follow-up Committee held its fifth meeting today,'' he said.
Gul told reporters, ''today's meeting is of great importance in regard to two issues. First of all, it was the first meeting following approval of the recent package of constitutional amendment. Secondly, the meeting was held after last week's meeting of the EU-Turkey Accession Partnership Council in Brussels.''
Recalling that the EU-Turkey Accession Partnership Council was the highest council between Turkey and the EU, Gul said, ''during the meeting, we reviewed everything once again. Therefore, we attribute importance to our meeting today.''
''There are laws which will be passed under constitutional amendment. We will complete them rapidly. There is also Turkish Penal Code which has been prepared by Justice Ministry and which reached final point in commissions. We aim to complete it in July. It is very important to pass those laws complying with the Constitution, but there are also other laws after Turkish Penal Code is passed from the parliament. In fact, those laws have been prepared, but we wait for Turkish Penal Code to be passed, like appellate courts. We speed up this issue. There is also another law which has been submitted to the parliament on people who suffered from terrorism. Parliament will pass those laws in time. Parliament is working on those laws day and night,'' he stated.
Gul said that in regard to implementation, there were publications on languages and dialects spoken in Turkey and noted, ''we have also taken some decisions on this issue. We also had a meeting with State Minister Besir Atalay for state-run Turkish Radio and Television Agency (TRT), Turkey's secretary general for EU, the Radio and Television Higher Board (RTUK) chairman and TRT director general on Sunday. We took some measures to speed up this issue. We will make it public soon.''
''There are also some problems on non-Muslim Turkish citizens. We also took decisions on solution of their problems. Those issues are related to implementation. Everyone is aware of changes concerning implementation in Turkey. A part of implementation will continue during negotiation process and some of them will continue after we join the EU. We aim to further improve democracy and freedoms to the highest standards in Turkey,'' Gul stated.
Noting that today's meeting had been very fruitful in this respect, Gul said that they would hold such meetings frequently. Stating that Turkey had a very limited time left and writing of reports had been predated, Gul said that the report would be released in October.
''We don't want to leave any pretext to the EU. We make these laws as our people deserve them because it is the promise that our government made to our people. Making our people happy is beyond everything. And one way of it depends on being together with the EU. At the same time, these are the EU's political criteria. We believe that we have exceeded the critical threshold with the EU,'' he said.
Foreign Minister Gul said that the issue would be discussed also during today's Council of Ministers meeting.
Asked what kind of decisions had been made on non-Muslim people living in Turkey, Gul said that a number of non-Muslim people were living in regions like Antalya and Alanya, some of whom had come to Turkey as tourists but later decided to live in those regions, adding that they had discussed the issue of meeting their worshipping requirements.
Noting that they would open places of worship for non-Muslim people, Gul said that those places of worship would not be built by the state, but legal and administrative facilities would be offered for construction of those places.
Asked whether or not the Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) Law would be amended for broadcast in mother tongue, Gul said that the TRT Board would convene on Monday or Tuesday and they believed a solution would be found.
''Because laws were made on this issue. We believe that a new law is not needed. After TRT Board discusses it, we will also discuss the issue,'' he said.
Gul said that they had not discussed opening of seminary for theological education on Heybeliada, adding that there was a separate work on the issue.
(UK-EÖ-MS-AÖ) 24.05.2004