Ataturk Would Have Been Eager For Turkey's EU Membership, Babacan

AMSTERDAM - Turkish FM Ali Babacan said on Thursday that, "If Ataturk (the founder of modern Turkey) had lived today, he would have been aspiring for Turkey`s EU membership."
Babacan, currently on a visit to the Netherlands, had an interview with the Dutch Volkskrant newspaper.
Indicating that Turkey had no other alternative but the EU membership, Babacan said Ataturk would have favored Turkey`s EU membership as he defended Turkey`s modernization.
Babacan said, "Turkey, being a country mostly populated by Muslims wants to prove that it also shares ideals of the EU. After becoming a member of the EU, Turkey wants to show that secularism, democracy and Islam could co-exist ."
Babacan said support and confidence in Turkey`s EU membership abated in European public opinions upon German Chancellor Angela Merkel`s negative views, and later on, new French President Nicolas Sarkozy`s negative statements on the matter during his election campaign.
(AY-ULG)