ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Wednesday Martin Schulz, the Chairman of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament (EP).
Sources said that Erdogan's meeting with Schulz was very fruitful, and quoted Schulz as saying in the meeting that they considered the start of membership negotiations with Turkey as a requirement of credibility and mutual confidence.
In the meeting, Schulz told Erdogan that European Union (EU) member states should abide by the principle set during the Helsinki and Copenhagen summits that negotiations with Turkey should be opened without delay if the European Commission's report was positive.
Schulz said, ''We talked to Mr. Verheugen before he visited Turkey, and received detailed information. We consider that the climate is favorable to open negotiations with Turkey. Negotiations should have a single target, and it is Turkey's full membership. What we should do is to express our will at the beginning. Turkey's membership will be an example, showing that EU values can also be valid in a country, the population of which is overwhelmingly Muslim. To this end, we attach importance to Turkey's EU membership. As the Socialist Group, we naturally prefer to discuss Turkey's EU membership with a socialist prime minister, but we support your efforts on the road to EU till the very end.''
On the other hand, Erdogan told Schulz that Turkey's EU membership would increase strategic importance of the EU, and make it a stronger and more effective power in the world.
Erdogan said, ''Turkey's membership is important regarding the formation of a joint platform against terrorism.''
In the meeting, Schulz also stated that reforms regarding the Code of Criminal Procedure (CMUK) and appellate courts should be made as soon as possible, and stressed that such reforms were obligatory to convince circles within the EP who were against Turkey's membership.
(BRC-ULG)
2004-11-24