ANKARA (A.A) - 23.06.2002 - Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said on Sunday that they were expecting a little different expression in the European Union (EU) Seville summit's final statement than the Laaken summit's final statement but the outcome was normal.
Speaking to the Turkish-CNN television channel, Cem evaluated the Turkey part of the Seville summit's final statement.
In the Turkey part of the final statement, the EU expresses its satisfaction over reforms made by Turkey. ''The implementation of the requried political and economic reforms will bring forward Turkey's prospects of accession in accordance with the same principles and critera as are applied to the other candidate countries,'' it says. The final statement notes, ''new decisions could be taken in Copenhangen on the next stage of Turkey's candidacy in the light of developments in the situation between the Seville and Copenhagen, and on the basis of the regular reports to be submitted by the commission in October 2002.''
''Actually, it happened exactly in the way I expected. It was not such a magnificient result. It was a normal result but we were expecting more and we are exerting efforts with this objective but the natural result happened. However, we were expecting a different expression than the Laaken's final statement,'' Cem said.
Noting that Turkey-EU relations were based on mutual benefits and interests, Cem said that Turkey-EU relations were improving under this fact, stressing that Turkey and the EU were no longer opponents of each other as they had reached the point of making joint assessments.
Stating that the Cyprus issue was a political factor not a political condition, Cem said, ''if we fulfil political criteria, then the EU cannot say that it cannot open accession negotations due to Cyprus. If it says this, we do many things.''
Explaining his opinion about death sentence, Cem said that it was a ''matter of black and white''.
Noting that death sentence was an ''outdated'' punishment, Cem said that countries which carry out this sentence were considered weak countries in regard to democracy and understanding of laws.
Cem said that an approach which brought measures against exploitation of measures should be adopted while broadening those freedoms.
Referring to the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP), Cem said that real target of Greece's reaction was not Turkey, but the EU.
Cem said, ''Turkey will not deviate from the Ankara Agreement. If the EU asks Turkey to make contribution in coming periods, Turkey will make the necessary contributions.''
Noting that Turkey had tightened its measures to prevent human smuggling, and achieved a great success, Cem said, ''we are getting prepared to take a new step to prevent human smuggling together with the Netherlands.''
Cem, ''dissolution of the government because necessary arrangements could not be made yet, will not be beneficial for Turkey during a period in which a serious economic programme is being implemented. I feel concern that dissolution of the government could bring forth a heavy burden on Turkey.''
Referring to yesterday's World Cup quarter-final match between Turkey and Senegal, Cem said, ''it was a great victory. We could not watch the last twenty minutes of the match due to the working lunch in Seville. When we heard shouts from the press room, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of Spain sent somebody to learn the score of the match. I understood that Turkey won the match when the foreign minister of Luxembourg made me a sign of victory. Later, leaders applauded and congratulated President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and me.''