French President Chirac: Turkey Is On An Unreturnable Way On The EU Path

ISTANBUL - French President Jacques Chirac, who attended NATO Summit in Istanbul, said on Monday that Turkey was on an unreturnable way on the European Union (EU) path.
Chirac told reporters that he had a sincere meeting with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. When asked whether Turkey`s EU membership was discussed during their meeting, Chirac said that they discussed the Summit organization and economic, political and cultural relations between Turkey and France and also Turkey`s candidacy to the EU.
Noting that he repeated his view that Turkey would enter the EU when its time has come, Chirac said that accession of a stable, modern and secular Turkey would be in political and economic interest of Europe.
Chirac said that Turkey should meet Copenhagen criteria, adding that everybody knew that Turkey has made a great progress and nobody could object this.
(GC-AÖ) 28.06.2004