ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said early on Saturday, ''we will work harder until October 3rd, 2005 when the full membership negotiations will start with the EU.''
Prime Minister Erdogan and the accompanying delegation returned to Turkey after attending the EU Summit in Brussels.
Members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) welcomed Prime Minister Erdogan at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, and to celebrate the historic decision made by the EU.
The party members carried banners calling Erdogan as the conqueror of EU and the new star of EU.
Making a brief address to the party members, Prime Minister Erdogan said, ''we, as the parliament, government, political parties, state and non-governmental organizations of Turkey and most importantly the Turkish nation, have worked hard with extraordinary good-will and exerted great efforts in the last two years of our long-standing and difficult EU journey.''
He thanked everyone working to this end.
He stressed that the Republican People's Party (CHP), the main opposition party, had also made valuable contributions to the process.
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(UK-MS)
2004-12-18