ISTANBUL - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder before dinner he hosted at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul on Monday, sources said on Tuesday.
Sources said that leaders discussed Turkey's European Union (EU) membership process for 15 minutes before the dinner Erdogan hosted in honor of heads of state and government of NATO member countries last night.
Erdogan once more expressed Turkey's expectation that the EU should set a date in its summit in December to open negotiations with Turkey and asked the two leaders to support Turkey.
Chirac and Schroeder both stated that they would continue to support Turkey's EU membership process.
The EU announced Turkey's candidacy at the Helsinki Summit in 1999. The Union is expected to decide on whether or not to open full membership negotiations with Turkey in its summit in December 2004.
(BRC-AÖ) 29.06.2004