ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul denied on Monday press reports saying that Ankara would propose Athens to re-open the seminary in Heybeliada, Istanbul.
In a press conference he held in Ankara Gul told journalists that reports that Turkey would ask Greece to increase the number of Turkish teachers in Celal Bayar High School in Komotini, in return for re-opening the seminary in Heybeliada, were inaccurate.
Noting that Turkish officials were working on the issue, Gul said that this issue has nothing to do with Turkey's European Union (EU) membership process.
He also said that Turkey was dealing with the issue since it attached importance to freedom of religion and education of every citizen.
Asked if initiatives to re-open the seminary would be completed before the European Union (EU) Commission announced its progress report on Turkey, Gul said, ''there isn't any connection between the seminary and the progress report.''
Answering a question, Gul also denied reports that EU Commissioner in charge of enlargement Guenter Verheugen gave him a ''To Do list'', before the progress report was made public.
Gul said, ''I have respect to the press but, we have hundreds of such documents. These are documents we prepare and work on. We have hundreds of documents listing our deficiencies, initiatives to be taken to eliminate them, and issues we need to act upon.''
When recalled about German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's statement that ''if the EU Commission proposes to start membership negotiations with Turkey in its progress report, EU leaders might adopt a 'conditional yes' position about this issue'', Gul said that such a thing was out of question, and added that Schroeder's attitude was clear.
(BRC-ULG) 19.07.2004