Basesgioglu: December 17th Is Very Important Both For Turkey And Europe

BERLIN - ''December 17th, the date EU leaders will decide whether or not to start entry talks with Turkey, is very important both for Turkey and Europe,'' said Turkish Labor and Social Security Minister Murat Basesgioglu.
Basesgioglu attended the dinner hosted by Berlin-Brandenburg Turkish-German Businessmen Association on Friday.
''Turkey showed an unexpected performance. We have made big changes in our Constitution and laws. We have met nearly all issues we committed in our national program and international documents,'' he said.
Basesgioglu said, ''we are waiting for the decision of EU leaders to be taken on December 17th. We demand EU to apply same just and objective criteria for Turkey as it happened to previous candidate countries.''
''Turkey should be prepared for a difficult negotiation process. This will be process during which big changes will happen,'' he added.
Regarding economy, Basesgioglu said, ''unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent in Germany. However, this rate is 24.6 percent among Turkish citizens in Germany. It is 48 percent in Berlin. we have discussed this issue with German Economics Minister. They are aware of the sensitivity of the issue. We know that vocational education is important. Turkish Labor Ministry has vocational education programs which were started in the past. We have to pursue these programs more intensively.''
Basesgioglu, regarding Turkish citizens in Germany, said, ''one of the priorities of Turkish government is to be interested in the problems of Turkish citizens in Germany. The current government has the same sensitivity. We know there are problems to be overcome. We will solve them together.''
Basesgioglu will return to Turkey today.
(GC-UK)