ANKARA/PARIS - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted to comments which said that the EU leaders might decide on ''conditional yes'' to Turkey at their summit in December.
''We can't stand things like conditional yes,'' he said while replying to questions of reporters aboard the plane flying from Turkey to France on Monday.
Replying to a question which said, ''France has not made a statement on full support to Turkey's EU membership. Do you expect to get such a support during this visit?'' Erdogan said, ''first of all, Mr. Chirac has never said that he does not support Turkey's membership. He has repeatedly told us that he is in the same line as Mr. Schroeder. During the latest NATO summit in Istanbul, he told me that sixty-seventy percent of the French public opinion is in favor of Turkey's accession.''
''I suppose that such a development in the French public opinion would relieve the political will's decision on this issue. Mr. Chirac and Mr. Schroder told us at the Copenhagen summit that they had positive opinions about December 2004. I think their positive opinions continue,'' he said.
Replying to another question which said, ''France's and Germany's common opinion about the date was July 2005. Do you expect such a thing?'' Erdogan said, ''I do believe that the EU leaders will set a date in December for beginning of entry talks.''
Asked whether Turkey could accept conditional yes, Erdogan said, ''first of all, there are twenty-five plus two countries at the moment which are full members or have been carrying out negotiation process. Such an implementation has never happened before. It is impossible for us to accept an understanding of imposing a rule, which does not exist in the EU acquis, on Turkey.''
''Here there are two things, that are, harmonization and implementation laws. They tell us if there is deficiency. Those related to harmonization have already been said. It is actually clear that implementation is not possible until 2004. Because we have been changing the mentality. It is impossible to finish this change in a very short period of time. Even full members could not finish it yet. While even full members could not finish it yet, I think that asking Turkey to finish it for start of entry talks contradicts the EU's ethic understanding at the point of its decision-making,'' he said.
ERDOGAN: ALL ISSUES ARE TOTALLY BASED ON PRINCIPLE OF INTEREST
Erdogan answered questions of reporters aboard the plane flying from Turkey for France.
Asked whether or not France wanted to join military projects and bid for privatization tenders together with Turkey, Erdogan said, ''all issues whether or not they are military matters are totally based on principle of interest. It is done if it is requirement of mutual interests. It is done with France or United States or Germany according to the country's interests. In the recent past, we cancelled a twelve billion U.S. dollars of defense industry tender. These were matters which were left hanging in the air. We cancelled and we brought a brand new understanding. Our aim is to strengthen domestic industry and develop joint projects with foreigners. The Defense Industry Undersectariat has been preparing such projects.''
Replying to a question about relations with Israel, Erdogan said, ''this is what has happened recently with Israel. We have to sign agreements with a country which has the most advanced technology. I mean to say that we sign agreements with Israel or United States or Germany or Korea, which has the most advanced technology.''
Replying to another question, Erdogan said that work on purchase of planes from France by the Turkish Airlines (THY) had been under way.
(MS) 19.07.2004