Turkey’s state minister and chief negotiator said on Monday that Turkey would make a very serious progress in case impediments in front of negotiations were removed.
"Two years have passed after Turkey formally started full membership negotiations. Turkey worked a lot in the past two years despite every kind of pessimism and negative developments," Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis said while speaking at the Istanbul office of the Secretariat General for the EU Affairs.
"Despite all the studies and efforts, we are sorry to see that sometimes the negotiation process is interpreted with a very narrow point of view. If we set aside the 13 chapter headings we have opened so far, we are face to face with the political impediments put forth by EU member countries or the commission on 17 of the 20 chapter headings," Bagis said.
"The remaining three chapter headings are; Competition Policy, Public Procurement and Social Policy & Employment. Those three are the most arduous chapter headings," Bagis said.
Bagis added, "we would have opened four more chapter headings with a few months efforts in the medium term if there had not been the political obstacles."
Chief Negotiator Bagis said, "as all those facts are obvious, we are exposed to some sharp criticisms by some circles regarding opening of chapter headings. I think they are unaware that Turkey was hindered by political blockade during the negotiation process."