ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Monday that Turkey expected an objective progress report from the European Union (EU) Commission, since it had fulfilled its commitments regarding the EU full membership process.
The sixth meeting of the Turkish Reform Monitoring Group was held under the chairmanship of Gul. Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, and State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin were the other participants of the meeting.
After the meeting, Gul told reporters that the EU Commission would announce its progress report on Turkey on October 6th, and said, ``we expect an objective progress report, reflecting Turkey`s performance in the best way. We have almost completed all necessary legal arrangements. Therefore, we can say that Turkey has passed the critical stage.``
Noting that Turkey had made significant progress in judicial reforms area, Gul said that the parliament would convene in September to complete the remaining reforms.
He stated that Turkey was also trying to put all the legal arrangements into practice, and said, ``we will make best use of summer months.``
Hoping that legal arrangements would be completed in September, Gul said, ``there is no return from these arrangements. If the progress report was to be written tomorrow, they must say that Turkey has fulfilled its commitments.`
Gul added that he thought EU leaders were also seeing positively Turkey`s moves.
(BRC-ULG) 19.07.2004