ANKARA - The Turkish parliament released a statement on Tuesday calling on the government to launch necessary initiatives for inclusion of Albania, Macedonia and Croatia in NATO.
The statement, which was adopted as a result of a motion submitted to the parliament by Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Group Chairman Faruk Celik, Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Group Chairman Kemal Anadol, Turkey-Albania Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Mehmet Yilmazcan, Turkey-Macedonia Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Niyazi Pekyurek, Turkey-Croatia Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Suleyman Gunduz, independent deputy Ulku Guney and Ummet Kandogan of the True Path Party (DYP), said, ''the Turkish parliament emphasizes once again that it is in favor of continuation of NATO's open gate policy for Southeast European countries which have the necessary political will and fulfilled the NATO membership criteria, in order to further consolidate peace, security and stability in Europe-Atlantic region.''
''To this end, the Turkish parliament supports membership of Albania, Macedonia and Croatia, which have already been included in the membership action plan mechanism of the Alliance, to NATO. The Turkish parliament also supports that Albania, Macedonia and Croatia should be given a concrete perspective in the final statement of the NATO Heads of State and Government Summit to be held in Istanbul between June 28 and 29, 2004. Therefore, the parliament calls on the government to launch necessary initiatives to provide a compromise among the allied countries,'' the statement added.
(UK-AÖ) 22.06.2004