STOCKHOLM (CIHAN) - The Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds said on Saturday it would be unfairness for Turkey if the European Union fails to give accession date to Turkey.
Swedish Foreign Minister, speaking at the parliament session, said that Turkey nearly fulfilled all the EU Copenhagen criteria and therefore it would be unfairness not to give accession date to Turkey.
The European Union pledged to open accession talks with Turkey without delay if Turkey fulfills the Copenhagen political criteria, the final joint declaration of the EU leaders' Summit said on Friday.
Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds had said on Friday that the October EU progress report on Turkey would be determinant in the decision to open accession talks with Turkey. Freivalds had said progress in human rights and the fulfillment of the EU Copenhagen criteria would determine whether Turkey had made enough progress for the opening of accession talks.
The EU Commission is expected to issue a progress report on Turkey in October. The report will be the basis for the EU leaders' decision on whether to open accession talks with Turkey or not. Recent signals from the EU have underlined that the actual implementation of the EU reforms will be crucial.
Freivalds said that the criteria Turkey has fulfilled are better than the criteria Croatia has met if compared. "It will be unjust not to give accession date to Turkey. Such unjust treatment could not be compensated later. The impartiality of the EU could be questionable then."
"Turkey is country that could bridge West and East. We can't ignore Turkey's role as bridge between western and eastern civilizations. Turkey's EU membership will be a boost to the Union in every perspective," Swedish Foreign Minister said.
Turkish diplomatic circles have reacted strongly to the European Union's decision to commence accession talks with Croatia at the beginning of 2005 even though Croatia's EU candidacy had only been accepted by the European Union in 2002.
Swedish Foreign Minister said that it is a positive and appealing development for Turkey as the EU constitution did not make reference to Europe's Christian identity in its first constitution. "This situation showed that the EU is open to everybody."