ANKARA - Turkey's foreign minister said on Tuesday that nobody should doubt the Turkish government's determination regarding EU reforms.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan hosted a luncheon in honor of EU countries' ambassadors in capital Ankara.
Delivering a speech at the gathering, Babacan said full membership to EU was a strategic target and state policy for Turkey.
"EU adhesion process is not solely a foreign policy move for us. It also constitutes a strong framework for the reforms we have been implementing in Turkey," Babacan said.
Describing the relations between Turkey and EU as a "win-win" relationship, Babacan said EU would lose its efficiency if it closed its doors.
"EU should have more self-confidence. The union should build up its policies on improvement and development, not on fears," he said.
Babacan also said that negative messages received from several EU member states regarding Turkey's membership process gave rise to doubts regarding EU's commitments.
"Such kind of discussions affect the reform climate in Turkey negatively. EU should refrain from attitudes that will harm Turkey's confidence regarding its membership goal," Babacan said.
Expressing Turkish government's determination regarding reforms, Babacan said the speed of reforms might change due to conditions, however, Turkey would complete its transformation process sooner or later.
"We have carried out a series of reforms and made significant progress in fundamental rights and freedoms. Going further from this point may be a little harder, but it is totally useless to take a step back or slow down such a process. Our people's sound support to those reforms will give us the necessary power in the coming period," he said.
"Our government does not want slowdown of the reform process. This process, however, is not totally under control of the government. Political conditions and the EU's approach towards Turkey have direct impacts on the process. Technically, many chapter headings are ready to be opened. But we cannot open them because of different political reasons and obstructions by different member-countries," he said.
Babacan said that they were working on a new National Program, and it would be released once the preparatory efforts were completed.
Referring to recent developments in Cyprus, Babacan said, "we support the full-fledged talks process on the island. We hope that the process would be finalized successfully. We attach great importance to efforts to find a lasting and sustainable solution under the United Nations parameters."
Babacan completed his speech by thanking France which will hand over the rotating EU presidency to Czech Republic at the end of the year.
(DO-UK-CE)
(DIP)