ANKARA - ''The Netherlands is one of the countries where Turkish workers live on equal legal conditions as Dutch citizens the most,'' Turkish Labor & Social Security Minister Murat Basesgioglu said on Tuesday.
Basesgioglu attended a meeting which was held by his ministry and the Dutch Embassy in Ankara to mark the 40th anniversary of Turkey-Netherlands Labor Force Agreement.
Basesgioglu said, ''there are 3.5 million Turkish citizens abroad and 1.5 million of them have dual citizenship. Annual sales of companies of nearly 85,000 Turkish entrepreneurs abroad has reached 40 billion euro.''
Basesgioglu recalled that Regular Report on Turkey's Accession Towards European Union (EU) will be published tomorrow (Wednesday). He said that Turkey does not want the European Commission to put forward any discriminative condition.
Recalling that the Netherlands is currently acting as the president of the EU, Basesgioglu said, ''we will be pleased if Turkey is given an unconditional negotiation period during the presidency of the Netherlands.''
Meanwhile, Dutch Social Affairs & Employment Minister Aart Jan de Geus said that the Netherlands needed labor force nearly 40 years ago and Turkey supplied this demand, stressing that it also contributed to economic development of Turkey.
(GC-MS) 05.10.2004