President Sezer Addresses 48th A.T.A. General Assembly

ISTANBUL - President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said on Thursday that, ''although the Progress Report and Strategy Document prepared by the EU Commission regarded with Turkey stressed the importance of political reforms fulfilled by Turkey in the past one year, the proposal it puts forward is far away from being satisfactory.''
Sezer, who addressed opening of Assembly of Atlantic Treaty Association (ATA) 48th General Assembly, spoke about the progress report and strategy report announced on Wednesday.
Sezer said, ''although the Progress Report and the Strategy Document prepared by the EU Commission stress the importance of the political reforms fulfilled by Turkey in the past one year with respect to Copenhagen criteria, it is far away from being satisfactory with respect to the proposals it puts forward.''
Sezer said, ''steps taken by the Parliament to constitute a response to the expectations of our nation and to meet Copenhagen political criteria were one of the most comprehensive reforms of the Turkish history. There is a strong political will for the continuation of those reforms, their implementation and to take some other necessary steps.''
Pointing out that the Progress Report and the Strategy Document were the products of a technical working carried out by the EU Commission, Sezer said the decision that will be taken in Copenhagen by 15 member countries will have a political quality rather than technical.
''We sincerely hope the EU countries to take a decision with common sense that will be in parallel with the strong political will revealed by Turkey. We also hope the EU countries to announce that full membership negotiations would start with our country in 2003,'' Sezer said stressing that Progress Report was a strategic document.
Recalling that he had sent a letter to the EU Commission President Romano Prodi before the document and the report were announced, Sezer said, ''as I stressed in the letter, we expect the commission to make constructive contributions to the political decision that will be taken by the member countries. As I had again underlined in the letter, Turkey, which put forward a strong political will on the way to integrate with the EU, expects a decision from the EU in the same way.''
Sezer pointed out that Turkey's integration with the EU within the framework of the EU would increase strategic initiative and deepness of the Union in all means, noting that, ''this integration will mean leaving behind all the disagreements stemming from cultural differences in Europe and will in a way constitute symbol of intercultural embracing.