NEW YORK - Turkish Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, who is currently in New York to attend the 59th session of the United Nations General Assembly, held bilateral talks with his Portuguese, Italian and Dutch counterparts and informed them on the draft Turkish Penal Code (TCK).
Turkey's European Union (EU) membership process, the Cyprus issue and Turkey's candidacy for a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council were also high on agenda.
-TCK-
Giving information about the draft TCK upon request of foreign ministers of the EU-member countries, Gul said, ''the draft is composed of 348 articles. It includes very important articles about individual freedoms. The former TCK was quite prohibitory. But the new draft is based on individual freedoms. When preparing the draft we got views of all sections of the society . The EU Commission described it as quite liberal and progressive, and congratulated us.''
Referring to the controversial proposal trying to make adultery a crime, Gul said, ''the article envisages one-year imprisonment sentence upon complaint of one of the spouses (the one who was betrayed). Some circles wrongfully claimed that the proposal meant a state intervention in marriage. We consider disputes over the article normal since it was commented greatly in a wrong way.''
Meanwhile, Dutch Foreign Minister Bot told Gul during their tete-a-tete meeting that the EU expected Turkey to enact draft TCK before October 6th when the EU Commission would release its Progress Report about Turkey.
-FRATTINI SAYS ITALY IS THE MOST POWERFUL SUPPORTER OF TURKEY-
Italian Foreign Minister Frattini said at his meeting with Gul that Italy would continue supporting Turkey's membership to the EU.
Italy is the most powerful supporter of Turkey, he said.
Frattini noted that they were quite impressed with reforms Turkey performed.
-GUL-MONTEIRO MEETING-
Gul also met Antonio Monteiro who has been appointed as the new foreign minister of Portugal.
During the meeting, the sides agreed that Gul would pay a visit to Portugal in November.
Monteiro expressed his country's satisfaction with the bilateral relations between the two countries, and reiterated that Portugal supported Turkey's EU membership process.
-GUL-SHALOM MEETING-
On the other hand, Israeli Foreign Minister informed Gul on the Middle East peace process.
Noting that Israel would put into practice its withdrawal plan within the next 3 to 4 months, Shalom said that some social problems must be resolved first.
He said that Israeli government was planning to send a delegation to Turkey in the coming weeks to inform the government about the recent developments in the Middle East peace process.
Shalom invited Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit Israel in the coming days.
Shalom said that they considered Turkey a powerful country in the region, and extended Israel's support to Turkey's membership to the EU. He added that Turkey's EU membership would make a valuable contribution to regional peace and stability.
In response to Shalom who said that Israel wanted to further develop its cooperation with Turkey, Gul said, ''we attribute great importance to cooperation with Israel.'
Gul is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with his Palestinian, Norwegian, Libyan, Brazilian, Algerian, Iraqi and Belgian counterparts, and also with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and EU Policy Chief Javier Solana on Wednesday.
(UK-ULG) 22.09.2004