GAZIANTEP - Secretary General for European Union (EU) Ambassador Volkan Vural said Turkey's being a member of the EU as of the 2010s is not a dream.
Speaking at a conference entitled ''EU and Future of Turkey'', Vural said there was a difficult period in front of Turkey which advances toward the EU membership.
Vural said, ''this difficult period can be overcome only with labour and determination of all of us. In case we act with conscious, Turkey will be able to get a negotiation date in a short time. Turkey has an accumulation to complete negotiations in 4-5 years after getting a date to start full membership negotiations. It is not a dream for Turkey to be an EU member as of 2010s, however this needs great efforts, will, and determination.''
Vural said improvement of relations with the EU and progress toward membership would make great contributions to Turkish economy and people, stressing that every step taken toward EU membership would promote Turkey to prosperity and development in freedom. ''Those are vital for all of us,'' he noted.
Pointing out that Turkey changed a lot in the past 18 months, Vural said, ''adjustment bill and Copenhagen criteria are adopted to a great extend and began to be implemented. They say we changed the laws but that there were deficiencies in implementation. Existence of the laws is not adequate, they should be implemented.''
Vural said Manisa Case, which caused trouble for Turkey for years and a symbol to the claims of torture resulted, adding that this relieved Turkey. Vural said, ''our state is against torture. We could not get rid of the torture incidents which unfortunately occur. We could not surrender the criminals to justice. Now that we capture the criminals and punish him, and thus the state got rid of this burden.''
Pointing out that it should be considered as natural that the Progress Report was not issued as Turkey expected, Vural said the decision whether or not they would start full membership talks with Turkey would be given in Copenhagen on December 12.
Vural said they expected a decision to be issued in Copenhagen to start full membership talks with Turkey, adding that, ''the commission will not only evaluate this report but the general factors at the same time.''
Vural said, ''Turkey is in an election atmosphere. The EU can not have an attitude like this party should win or not. It can not interefere in our domestic affars but it would like to see whether or not the new political structure would continue the reform process and economic program.''