ANKARA - Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday will go to Portugal, which is the first leg of his tour to the seven countries within the framework of Turkey's membership process to the European Union (EU).
Erdogan will visit Portugal, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands within the framework of initiatives taken for Turkey to be given a negotiation date at Copenhagen Summit on December 12.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan will go to Lisbon on Monday and have a working meeting with Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso. He will also meet with main opposition Socialist Party leader Berro Rodrigues.
Erdogan will later proceed to Helsinki and meet with Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen.
Erdogan will also go to Copenhagen on Tuesday and come together with Dannish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
He will leave for Stockholm the same day. Erdogan will have a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson on Wednesday and also meet with parliament speaker and main opposition leader there.
After proceeding to France, Erdogan will be received by French President Chirac.
Erdogan will return to the country the same day. He will go to Luxembourg on Friday and meet with Prime Minister Jean Juncker. Erdogan will have luncheon with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Lydie Polfer.
He will later fly to the Netherlands and have a meeting with the Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and return to Turkey.