ISTANBUL - Hansjoerg Kretschmer, the Head of the Representation of the European Commission to Turkey, said on Wednesday that the European Union (EU) was more positive towards starting full membership negotiations with Turkey when compared with the past.
The Economic Development Foundation (IKV) and Turkey's Secretariat General for the EU carried out projects with financial contributions of the EU and conducted surveys as a part of the seminars on Turkey-EU in the pre-accession process.
Kretschmer told a press conference that a project aiming at the business world would be launched in the following week and hoped that the project would eliminate information gap in Turkish industry.
Turkey was undergoing critical days till the EU summit which would be held in December and in which the EU would decide whether or not to open entry talks with Turkey, Kretschmer said.
Kretschmer stated that Turkey was facing the biggest problem in implementation of the reforms.
However, Kretschmer said, Turkey's shortcomings and deficiencies in practice should not make it pessimistic about the EU decision to be taken in December.
Kretschmer pointed out that EU's decision will be a political decision.
Nobody could expect full adjustment to political criteria, Kretschmer said.
Kretschmer noted that the EU would assume that Turkey would overcome its shortcomings in a near future if it was to take a decision to open entry talks in December.
Turkey would be asked to meet the criteria valid for all the other candidate countries, Kretschmer said.
Kretschmer stated that Turkey would have to meet EU criteria like democracy, human rights and respect to minority rights.
Turkey would also have to meet all economic criteria when it became a member, Kretschmer pointed out.
But, Kretschmer said, meeting economic criteria was not important for the decision EU would take in December. He stressed that the EU was only interested whether or not political criteria was met at the moment.
Kretschmer stated that Turkey was trying to meet political criteria as much as possible, adding that the EU was more positive towards opening entry talks with Turkey when compared with the past.
The EU announced Turkey's candidacy in its summit held in Helsinki in 1999 and it is expected to start full membership negotiations with Turkey this December.
Turkey passed the first EU adjustment law in August 2002. Under this law, Turkey abolished death penalty for crimes of terrorism and commuted death sentence to life imprisonment. This law widened rights of the foundations and associations and enabled broadcasting and education in different languages and dialects.
Under the recent EU adjustment law passed during the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, scope of freedom of thought and expression was broadened.
In accordance with the recent adjustment law, the National Security Council will convene once in two months. The Council can meet upon the proposal of the prime minister or directly upon the call of the president when necessary. (NSC)
(BRC-AÖ) 02.06.2004