Turkish P.M. Says Conditional Yes Is Out Of Question

STRASBOURG - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that a ''conditional yes'' from European Union (EU) to Turkey was out of question.
Erdogan told a press conference in Strasbourg, France that the EU lit the first green light for opening of negotiations with Turkey.
PM Erdogan said that Turkey had developed itself so much and made many reforms since 1999, and noted, ''today, we reached the first stage of our target the Commission has lit the first green light. And, I can say that we have successfully passed the first stage of this relay race.''
Noting that EU heads of state and government would decide on whether or not to open entry talks with Turkey on December 17th and thus, negotiations would start, Erdogan said that all his interlocutors in EU member countries stressed importance of the Commission's report and recommendation, and stressed that occurrence of a clear perspective in the report was important for Turkey.
(BRC-MS) 06.10.2004