ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday that Turkey`s membership to the European Union (EU) was the top priority of the Turkish government.
Speaking at a meeting organized by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in association with the World Bank on ``Strategic Leadership in EU Process``, Gul referred to the relations between Turkey and the World Bank saying, ``I believe that these beneficial relations will continue during Turkey`s accession process to the EU.``
``A new era has begun in our relations with the EU after the date of December 17th. Turkey`s membership to the EU is the top priority of our government,`` he said.
Gul noted, ``our government has displayed an exemplary determination and will to fulfil the Copenhagen political criteria. We have made a series of comprehensive reforms to this end. Both Turkish and the EU public opinions and political leaders appreciated those reforms by describing them as a silent revolution.``
``The EU membership process has begun yielding its results in economy. For instance, direct foreign investments have begun increasing considerably. Direct foreign investments rose 50 percent to 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2004. Also, we attribute a special importance to fulfillment of structural reforms. We are determined to maintain those reforms to accelerate our adjustment process to the EU. Meanwhile, we are planning to decrease inflation rate to 4 percent at the end of 2007,`` he added.