ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received on Tuesday Claudia Roth, co-chairperson of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance in Germany.
After the meeting, Roth told reporters that they hoped the European Council would make a positive decision on negotiations with Turkey on December 17th, and expressed thought that the Council would set a date to start entry talks with Turkey.
Roth said that their group told Erdogan that they would continue to back Turkey, and noted that Erdogan thanked the group for their support.
''We also said that we will continue to be a friend of Turkey, but we will at the same time criticize Turkey when necessary,'' Roth stated.
Noting that they knew that it was now time for Turkey to implement the reforms that had been made, Roth said that one of the matters they discussed in their meeting was campaigns to eliminate Turkey's shortcomings in education.
Roth pointed out that they also wanted to cooperate with Turkish government and non-governmental organizations in environmental protection.
The German group will have a meeting with representatives of the some human rights associations in Ankara. This meeting with be closed to the press.
The German Greens group had earlier met Yasar Yakis, chairman of Turkish Parliamentary Commission for EU Adjustment.
On the other hand, Erdogan met Nadezhda Mihaylova, vice-president of European People's Party, before his meeting with the German Greens delegation.
(BRC-MS) 02.11.2004