Mfa: One More Obstacle In Front Of Opening Of Accession Talks With Eu Has Been Overcome With Closure Of Monitoring Procedure For Turkey

ANKARA - Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) stated on Tuesday that one more obstacle in front of opening of accession talks between Turkey and the European Union (EU) had been overcome with closure of the monitoring procedure for Turkey by the Council of Europe (COE) Parliamentary Assembly.
Releasing a statement, the MFA said, ''during today's session, the COE Parliamentary Assembly debated the monitoring report about Turkey. After coming into conclusion that Turkey had fulfilled its commitments stemming from its COE membership, the COE Parliamentary Assembly decided to close the monitoring procedure for Turkey.''
''The closure of the monitoring procedure means that Turkey has fulfilled its commitments in democracy, human rights and supremacy of law in line with the COE standards. Consequently, one more obstacle in front of opening of accession talks between Turkey and the EU had been overcome with closure of the monitoring procedure for Turkey by the COE Parliamentary Assembly. Our government will sustain its sound will to provide a full adjustment to European norms in democracy, human rights and supremacy of law,'' MFA added.
Earlier in the day, the COE Parliamentary Assembly voted a report and draft resolution, which were prepared by Luc Van den Brande of Belgium and Mady Delvaux-Stehres of Luxembourg to close the procedure.
The report eulogized the reform process in Turkey and made a series of recommendations to Turkey for the future.
The procedure started in 1996 with the pretext of existence of problems in democratization and continuation of human rights violations in COE founding member Turkey.
(UK-AÖ) 22.06.2004