ANKARA - ''I believe that The European Union (EU) will be in a position to agree to start full membership negotiations with Turkey at the end of this year'', Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.
Addressing the Justice and Development (AK Party) provincial chairmen meeting, Erdogan said Turkey was aware of the responsibilities imposed by history and geography.
He said Turkey's international relations gained momentum in the recent past, stating that Turkey joined G-8 summit in the United States as ''Democratic Partner''. Erdogan said the views put forth by Turkey at the G-8 Summit was included in the final statement.
PM Erdogan said G-8 Summit was comprised of three main elements: the target countries constituted the first group, democratic partners the second group, and eight main partners constituted the third group.
Stressing that Turkey and Ireland joined the summit as democratic partners, Erdogan said Turkey was one of the three countries acting as co-chairmen.
Erdogan said Turkey, together with Italy and Yemen, participated to a joint evaluation of broader Middle East and North Africa.

-EU-
Erdogan said he also attended the EU summit which was held in the Netherlands after this country became Acting EU President.
''We have seen in the Netherlands that our interlocutors appreciate the steps we have taken for democratization and within the framework of Copenhagen criteria. I believe that the EU will agree in December to start full membership negotiations with Turkey.''
Erdogan said Turkey's EU membership would not only be in the interest of Turkey, but that the EU would also gain a more strategic identity.

-NATO SUMMIT-
Reminding that the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) foreign ministers meeting took place in Istanbul last week with the participation of 57 Islamic countries, Erdogan reminded that Turkey's candidate Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu was elected the Secretary General of the OIC.
Erdogan recalled that NATO Summit was also held in Istanbul at the beginning of the week and U.S. President George W. Bush held some official meetings in Ankara before the summit. He noted that this summit underlined once again the importance of Turkey at a moment when regional and international developments have been intensified.
Noting that nearly 10 thousand people attended the NATO Summit, Erdogan said that the summit increased the esteem for Turkey.
Erdogan also said positive developments were recorded in economic area.
(AY-EÖ-ULG) 02.07.2004