Erdogan: If A Road Map Will Be Drawn, Turkey Should Be Given A Date At Copenhagen Summit For Opening Of Accession Talks

LISBON/HELSINKI - Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Recep Tayyip Erdogan said early on Tuesday, ''if a road map will be drawn, Turkey should be given a date at Copenhagen Summit of the European Union (EU) on December 12, 2002. If such a date is set at the summit, we can negotiate the solution plan of the United Nations about Cyprus.''
Erdogan responded questions of journalists aboard the plane on his way from Portuguese capital Lisbon to Finnish capital Helsinki.
When asked whether or not a step back was in question in the AK Party's package including the Cyprus question, Erdogan said, ''no. The Cyprus question has been perpetually brought onto agenda in Turkey's EU full membership process. Although Cyprus is not a precondition, it was brought to the forefront. In response, we said that the issue could be taken up as a package.''
''We are still talking about the same issue. However, all problems cannot be solved the same day. If a road map will be drawn, Turkey should be given a date at Copenhagen Summit of the EU on December 12, 2002. If such a date is set at the summit, we can negotiate the solution plan of the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan about Cyprus. We are ready to negotiate the plan. We are in favor of finding a solution to the Cyprus question. Meanwhile, we expect the Greek Cypriot side to make the same self-sacrifices with us. As you know, President Rauf Denktas of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has been in New York, the United States, for medical treatment. And the new government has just been formed in Turkey. Everything will become clear in the first week of December,'' he said.
When a journalist recalled that Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu of the TRNC said that the plan could not be negotiated, Erdogan told reporters, ''it is the personal view of Prime Minister Eroglu. During our visit to the TRNC, we put forward our thesis. Politicians are obliged to find solutions instead of creating problems. If a politician refrains from holding negotiations, it means that he does not have any thesis. If you rely on yourself, you sit on the negotiation table and put forward your thesis.''
Responding another question, Erdogan said, ''the issue cannot be solved within a week. We say that we can negotiate the plan. It is wrong to say that we accepted it. The plan includes both positive and negative matters. We should negotiate it.''
Erdogan said that Cyprus question is brought into agenda in many places and the question is tangled up in Copenhagen criteria from time to time and he added that their first mission is Copenhagen criteria. He said that pre-conditions do not include Cyprus question, adding that they are obliged to carry out the promises which were given in national program.
Noting that Turkey has been implementing the necessities of EU adjustment bills for 18 months, Erdogan said that now giving the positive response is EU countries' mission.
Upon a question whether his idea about Cyprus question has changed after the meeting of Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Rauf Denktas, Erdogan said that his view has not changed, adding that U.N. plan can be negotiated. He said that some points can be changed in the plan.
When he was asked the priority of Cyprus question, Erdogan said that their first agenda is Copenhagen criteria and he added that the life standards of people in Turkey and TRNC should be increased and a part of EU adjustment bills which was newly prepared can be completed until December 12.
When recalled that President Ahmet Necdet Sezer had a disappointment concerning the EU, Erdogan said that they are explaining their views before the world press and those are recorded, adding that the decision of EU countries will also be recorded on December 12. He said that EU countries are also being tested and he added that this will not be an end for Turkey.
Upon a question on his views about Sezer's ideas about headscarf in public space, Erdogan said that neither EU nor AK Party have that issue in their agenda.
Meanwhile, Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou had a phone call with Yakis and he asked information from Yakis about his meeting with Denktas.
Papandreou will visit Turkey on December 4.