Cem: Turkey Wants Denmark To Propose Opening Of Full Membership Negotiations When Its Term Presidency Ends

ANKARA, Feb 14 (A.A) - Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said on Thursday that Turkey aimed to begin European Union (EU) full membership negotiations when Denmark's Term Presidency ended.
Cem and Guenter Verheugen, the EU Commissioner for enlargement, held a joint press conference.
Foreign Minister Cem said that they wanted Denmark, which would hand over the term presidency in the second half of this year, to advise the successor term president to set the date for begining of Turkey's full membership negotiations and noted that Turkey would do its best to achieve this.
Cem stated that his meeting with Verheugen was very beneficial and positive.
Turkey was hopeful about opening full membership negotiations with the steps it would take in 2002, Cem pointed out.
Cem said, ''this is an optimistic alternative but I believe that this can happen.''
They evaluated the ongoing negotiation process in Cyprus during their meeting, Cem noted.
Cem said, ''we have expressed our pleasure about the negotiations. We hope this process will further.''
Despite some difficulties and problems in Turkish-EU relations, they had caught a positive trend, Cem stated.
Cem said, ''that very important step at the Laeken Summit did not only contributed to bilateral relations but also it was an encouraging development for Turkey to take more steps in the possible shortest time. I believe that we can accelerate the process within the scope of national programme and accession partnership accord during Spain's term presidency.''
VERHEUGEN SAYS SUBSEQUENT STEP THEY EXPECT FROM TURKEY IS LAUNCHING OF CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS LIKE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND EDUCATION
EU Commissioner Verheugen said that the constitutional amendments made by Turkey so far were a progress but that they had some expectations about capital punishment and the right to education.
Verheugen noted that they wanted to see Turkey as an EU member and that their stance was very clear.
Negotiation process would begin after the fulfilment of political criteria, Verheugen stated.
Verheugen said that there was a development in Turkey in that respect and that they were encouraging Turkey to continue those developments.
They would follow the process in Turkey, Verheugen noted and said that the negotiation date was dependant on the progress to be recorded by the country.
Verheugen pointed out that if those were achieved, he could promise that there would not be a delay in the date of opening of negotiations in their respect. But, in the end, the date depended on the developments marked by Turkey, he said.
When asked in which fields there were problems, Verheugen said that they expected Turkey to deal with the issues which had not been touched in the first amendment package, including the capital punishment and education right.
Verheugen said that 2002 was an important year in Turkey-EU relations and pointed out that the way the constitutional amendments would be implemented was also important.
When they considered the issue in point of view of Turkey, some developments had been marked but according to the European point of view, there were still some question marks, Verheugen noted.
Verheugen stated that he understood that this was a process.
Touching on the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)-European Union (EU) Joint Forum, Verheugen said that it was a forum held with the initiative of Turkey and participation of many countries.
Verheugen noted that there were two important factors. One of them, he said, if the dialogue was serious, there could be a more comprehensive fight against terrorism.
The second important point was that the meeting indicated the values that Europe could take from Turkey as a member, Verheugen said.
Verheugen stated that those values were standing there but they had become obvious now and showed that Turkey had things that nobody could offer.
They also supported the negotiation process in Cyprus, Verheugen said and added that however, there was not any change in the timing of the membership process of the Greek Cypriot administration.

PRIME MINISTER ECEVIT AND DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER BAHCELI RECEIVE VERHEUGEN SEPARATELY
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit received on Thursday Guenter Verheugen, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, who came to Turkey to hold contacts.
No statement was issued to the press after the meeting.
Ecevit told Verheugen who referred to the harmony of the coalition in the meeting that, problems were seen from time to time in the coalition government, but the problems were overcome in the end.
When Verheugen asked if Turkey would get the command of the international assistance force in Afghanistan from Britain, Ecevit said that there is such a possibility, yet no concrete development took place in this issue.
Noting that the cost of the Turkish unions was expensive, Ecevit said that the EU countries have not yet taken an initiative to meet these expenses.
When Verheugen referred to the issue of constitutional amendments, Ecevit said that the parliament had an extraordinary performance in this issue.
Verheugen said that the amendments were appreciated by Europe, adding that the implementation of the amendments were also important and that EU would closely monitor that.
When referring to economic issues, Ecevit said that the IMF helped Turkey significantly as the latter trusted Turkey, hinting Iraq he added that if there were not unexpected developments in the region, the improvement in the Turkish economy would speed up.
The Cyprus issue was not taken up in the meeting.
Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister Devlet Bahceli also received Verheugen the same day.
No statement was issued aftre the meeting.
VERHEUGEN MEETS WITH PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSION CHAIRMAN INAN AND COMMISSION MEMBERS
Verheugen said on Thursday that the EU would support Turkey in the full membership process.
Verheugen visited Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Commission within the scope of his contacts in Ankara. Verheugen, who met with the Comission's Chairman and its members, said before the meeting that he came to the parliament for the first time, adding that he was a deputy in his country for long years before being elected to the EU Commission.
Noting that he is aware of the importance of the parliament and the Foreign Affairs Commission as a former deputy, Verheugen said that he was pleased to meet face to face with Inan and the other members of the Commission.
''When compared to my previous visit to Turkey, there have been very important changes in Turkey,'' said Verheugen and noted that the parliament adopted many laws in spite of the economic crisis. Verheguen noted that the EP would also assess that, adding Turkey would also attend the EU Convention.
Referring to Turkey-EU relations, Verheugen said that EU attributes great importance to the relations and full membership process of Turkey started to operate like in other candidate countries.
Verheugen noted that the EU accepted in Laeken summit that Turkey launched efforts to fulfil the political criteria.
''We will give all sorts of assistance to Turkey in the EU membership process. Maybe a committee can be set up in the Turkish parliament in this process. We consider very positive the constitutional amendments undertaken by the parliament. The new laws and the amendment undertaken in the parliament is an important success of the parliament. This will play an important role in Turkey's fulfilling Copenhagen criteria,'' he said.
The meeting was later closed to the press.
Verheugen was accompanied by EU Commission's Representative to Turkey Karen Fogg.