ANKARA - Turkey had met political criteria required for European Union (EU) full membership, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Tuesday.
Addressing a gathering of the ruling Justice & Development Party (AK Party), Gul said Turkey's EU ''adventure'' which started by 1963 Ankara Agreement, had entered into a critical stage at present day.
Gul recalled that EU decided during the Copenhagen Summit to start full membership negotiations with Turkey without delay in case Turkey fulfilled all political criteria.
Stating that important laws were adopted under leadership of AK Party government which was characterized as a reformist party by the world, Gul said that eight reform packages regarding democratization, human rights, transparency, freedom of thought, and relationship between military and the civilians were enacted in the last two years.
''What the EU should do from now on was to start negotiations with Turkey'', Gul noted.
Gul stated that Guenter Verheugen, the EU Commissioner for enlargement who visited Turkey few days ago, said that Turkey had performed significant reforms and there were not any other conditions Turkey should meet from now on.
The progress report to be made public on October 6th would demonstrate current stage reached by Turkey, and how many of political conditions had been met, Gul said.
Gul noted, ''we believe that it will be a fair and objective report. At the outset there were hundreds of jobs we were required to do. Now, all of them have been performed and there are only a few left to be completed.''
The government would continue to perform its task after the EU opened negotiations with Turkey, Gul pointed out.
Stating that the decision the EU would make at the end of December would be a political one, Gul said, ''this political decision would definitely be fair.''

-WE DON'T PAY ATTENTION-
Gul noted that so many things related to Turkey were discussed in the past and it was accepted that Turkey would contribute to the EU if it becomes a member.
Turkey won't be a burden on the EU's shoulders in economic sense, Gul stated.
Gul said, ''when Turkey joins the EU, the cake will be bigger, and Turkey will also take its share from this cake.''
''Everybody is aware that Turkey and the EU will play a more important role in world politics (after Turkey joins the Union),'' Gul stated.

-REFORMS SHOULDN'T BE OVERSHADOWED-
Turkish FM Gul also recalled that the parliament would convene for an emergency meeting to debate several laws, particularly amendments to Turkish Penal Code (TCK), later in the day. He defined amendments to TCK as ''an important and in-depth reform''. Gul said, ''freedoms are widened, and issues which disturbed us regarding gender equality are overcome.''
Noting that he was sad to see that those important amendments were overshadowed by only one article (concerning adultery), Gul said, ''Turkey doesn't deserve this. Everybody can say what he/she thinks. But, nobody has the right to harm Turkey's image because of a single article. The parliament will debate the draft and parliamentarians will vote as how they deem right.''
Gul added, ''I hope the EU will also fulfil the requirements of its responsibilities at the end of this year, and decide to start negotiations with Turkey. There won't be any (new) conditions put before Turkey in order to start negotiations. Because, Turkey has a very sincere and honest approach to its EU membership bid. Therefore it expects the EU to assume a similar honest and unprejudiced attitude towards itself.''
(BRC-ULG) 14.09.2004