ANKARA - Acting Parliament Speaker Ismail Alptekin received Josef Jarab, the chairman of the Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security of the Senate of the Czech Republic, and the accompanying delegation on Monday.
Speaking at the meeting, Alptekin said, ''it is pleasing that bilateral relations between Turkey and the Czech Republic have been further improving rapidly. Lack of any political problems between the two countries constitutes an appropriate ground for development of co-operation. We should also improve our economic and commercial relations.''
Recalling that the Czech Republic became a full member of the European Union (EU) as of May 1, 2004, Alptekin said, ''as you know, Turkey is waiting for the EU to set a date for opening of accession talks. We expect the Czech Republic to support Turkey as a member of the EU.''
Meanwhile, Jarab said in his part that they would support Turkey's EU membership process.
Earlier in the day, Czech delegation visited Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Commission Chairman Mehmet Dulger and Turkey-Czech Republic Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Hasan Oren.
(UK-AÖ) 24.05.2004