ANKARA - Swedish Parliament Speaker Bjorn von Sydow said on Monday that Sweden wanted Turkey-EU accession talks to start on Oct. 3rd, 2005 in line with the decision taken at EU Summit of Dec. 17th, 2004.
Speaking in a joint news conference after the meetings between Turkish and Swedish parliamentary delegations, Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc thanked Sweden's support to Turkey's EU bid and wished Sweden to continue extending its support during the accession talks that would start on Oct. 3rd.
Noting that the meetings between the two delegations were very useful and constructive, Arinc said that there was no political problem between the two countries and the economic and cultural relations developed at a perfect level.
Referring to Turkey's EU bid in his statement, Swedish Parliament Speaker Sydow said that all members of the Swedish parliament favored beginning of the entry talks between Turkey and the EU.
When a reporter asked Syrow's opinion about the view suggesting that a different status--other than full membership-- should be given to Turkey, Sydow said that ''we want the start of the entry talks between Turkey and the EU for full membership on October 3rd, 2005.''
Pointing out to the close monitoring of the human rights developments in Turkey by the Swedish parliament, Sydow said that ''this will also continue during Turkey's membership process as human right is an universal issue.''
Sydow added that there was a 5 million Euros project between the two countries on democracy and human rights and later a EU-member third country could also join that.