Erdogan: We Are Determined To Make Turkey A Country Of Freedoms

SENNINGEN - Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that as AK Party, they were determined to make Turkey a country of freedoms.
Erdogan held a joint press conference with Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker of Luxembourg following their meeting.
''Making Turkey a European Union (EU) member is our prior target,'' Erdogan said.
Juncker noted that a process during which ten new candidate countries would join the EU was being witnessed.
Stating that Turkey was one of those candidate countries, Juncker stressed that every candidate country had to be treated equally.
Juncker said that they would see at the Copenhagen summit that there was really a significant progress in Turkey recently and the 15 member countries would evaluate that progress.
They would exert every effort to continue that process under good conditions, Juncker stated.
Juncker said, ''Luxembourg's commitment is very clear. Relations between the EU and Turkey have to be purified from hypocrisy. I mean this: We are 15 countries that will make a decision in Copenhagen. We hope to make a decision based on compromise among these 15 member countries. We think that this decision has a distinguishing feature than the decision taken in Helsinki and it has to be based on that decision. Copenhagen should be beyond Helsinki for us. And, this means confirmation of Turkey's place in Europe without any ground for hesitations. We have to agree on the formula of 'beyond Helsinki' in Copenhagen and we have to have similar views on certain political issues. These issues have to have a clear and comprehensible formula.''
''This formula should be a result which is in line with expectations of Turkish people and satisfy public of 15 EU member countries. Also, we should encourage Turkish government to abide by every effort to adjust to Copenhagen criteria in a way to meet expectations of Turkish people. We know that it is not possible to totally fulfill all these conditions before starting the negotiations. But, first of all, progress has to be recorded in respect to human rights and similar issues,'' Juncker noted.
Juncker said that the legal amendments that Turkey had made and planned to make put forth its seriousness about EU membership.
Hoping that a formula which would meet expectations of people of Turkey and EU member countries would be found, Juncker said, ''the EU is not a closed club. It is out of question to exclude a country because it is a Muslim country.''
Juncker said that ''EU is not a club that is composed of Christian people. Christianity is first of all a view that voices an understanding of tolerance. Conditions have to be met until negotiations are started with Turkey. When these negotiations are resulted, there won't be any difference between Turkey and Luxembourg. Our studies in this issue aim to make our countries' future bright. When Turkey joins the EU, the cocktail of the European continent will be formed.''
AK Party leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the friendly relations between Prime Minister Juncker of Luxembourg and him will also speed up the economic relations between the two countries.
Turkey set up a partnership relation with the EU including a membership perspective just in the beginning of EU's foundation, said Erdogan and noted that these relations which continue for 40 years strengthened with the signing of customs union in 1995.
''Turkey's candidacy was accepted in Helsinki summit in 1999.Juncker launched significant efforts during Helsinki summit. In fact Turkey has fulfilled its responsibilities during this three-year pre-accession period. Particularly in the last 18 months, it undertook a comprehensive constitutional amendment and it adopted three different adjustment law packages. Both constitution and also the adjustment laws brought serious changes in Turkey's adjustment with Copenhagen political criteria. Particularly on August 3, a reform package was adopted which lifted death penalty and which accepted further indivudual and cultural rights,'' Erdogan said.
Erdogan noted that AK Party came to power on its own following the elections held on Nov. 3, adding that it won a two-thirds majority in the parliament.
''AK Party is resolved to make Turkey a country of freedoms. Turkey's joining the EU is our number one target. We want starting accession talks with EU to reach this goal. The government has prepared an action plan for Turkey's fulfilling Copenhagen political criteria and overcoming some shortcomings in practice. We will put this plan as soon as possible. In my meeting, I told Juncker that the result of Copenhagen summit will not only concern the membership of Turkey, but it will also be a message for Europe's putting forward its identity as the political values system and a message for peace, cooperation and compromise in the international arena. Mr. Juncker said that Luxembourg is devoted to the decisions of Helsinki summit and the fact that Turkey would be assessed due to objective criteria. We are pleased that we had a very constructive and positive meeting with Juncker.''
''Do you think that you were welcome in Europe during your visits to EU capitals? Do you think that your project in respect of EU's giving negotiation date to Turkey in Copenhagen summit is realistic?'' asked a journalist to Erdogan who said that ''certainly I have positive views about the atmosphere in which I was greeted. In fact a positive step was taken by acception of Turkey's candidacy to EU in Helsinki summit. We wish the membership process to speed up by EU's giving a negotiation date. The requirements of the Copenhagen criteria were met by the constitutional amendments in 48 articles undertaken in Turkey in the last 18 months. At the moment there are certain shortcomings in practice. We launch efforts to overcome them. Our target is to get the negotiation date we wish to get during Copenhagen summit.''
Juncker said in his part that the commitment of the government in Luxembourg to this issue is obvious, adding that ''Copenhagen should go beyond the decisions taken in Helsinki for Turkey. We hope the decision of 15 countries based on compromise to draw a road map, so we hope that a date can be determined for Turkey. I suggested Mr. Erdogan to meet with Danish Prime Minister prior to the Copenhagen summit and reach an acceptable agreement between Turkey and EU.''
When a reporter asked Juncker if they were concerned about the legal status of Erdogan who has a political ban in Turkey during Turkey's accession process to the EU, Juncker said that ''even if Mr. Erdogan is not a member of the parliament now, he won the elections in Turkey. Erdogan's party won the elections as it got the trust of Turkish people. Rather than legal applications, this is more important for us.''
Juncker said that the situation in Turkey for legal status of Erdogan should be corrected and he should be a member of the parliament.
''I hosted Mr. Erdogan as the representative of the majority of Turkish electors with pleasure,'' he said.
When asked if he thought Turkey was treated equally with other candidate countries, Juncker said that ''yes.''
Juncker said that other candidate countries didn't fully abide by all the criteria, but the negotiations with them started.
''Negotiations can start despite that, but we should see that there is an important difference in respect of fulfilling the criteria by the other candidate countries and by Turkey. But we should also take into consideration the progress recorded by Turkey in the previous months, and new progress to be recorded in the coming weeks and so it is possible by EU to make an assessment alos by taking into conisderation the Cyprus, NATO-EU relations.''
''Do you think that a date won't be given to Turkey?'' asked a journalist to Juncker who said that it will be easier to tell Erdogan that a date will be given to Turkey, but he didn't tell that.
Juncker said that the EU had to assume a constructive attitude towards Turkey, Copenhagen should be ''beyond Helsinki summit'' and the EU should take into consideration recent progress in Turkey.
''When we say 'beyond Helsinki, such a reference frame should be formed that it should not cause any hesitations in Turkey about being admitted to the EU. It should not cause any doubts that Turkey will become an EU country in the future,'' Juncker noted.
Juncker added, ''I would like to say this about giving a date to Turkey: I am allergic to every kind of hypocrisy. Continuation of Europe to give a lesson to Turkey instead of giving a date as soon as possible is an unacceptable stance for me. We have to be frank, behave friendly and say everything openly. It can be possible to give a date after reaching a certain compromise about when these conditions can be fulfilled. This formula should be an acceptable statement for both Turkey and Europe.''
When a reporter said that mostly, the Christian democrat parties opposed to Turkey's EU membership and asked if a religious ground was formed about this issue, Juncker said that Christian democrat parties did not have a certain stance about Turkey.
Pointing out that he was also a member of the Christian Democrat Party, Juncker stressed that he was loving and respecting to others.
When a reporter said that some AK Party members were also members of the Council of Europe (COE) parliament and asked if this would mean a strong delegation and also asked if AK Party would have a demand to join international Christian democrats, Erdogan said, ''a total of 12 deputies, including 8 AK Party deputies and 4 opposition party deputies, will be there in this term. We have not made a decision about whether to be with the Christian democrats, social democrats, or liberals or the Greens.''
Erdogan added, ''we will take our steps after formation of the commissions. Motherland Party (ANAP), which cannot enter parliament, was acting jointly with the Christian democrats. I think CHP will act together with the social democrat group and we will make an evaluation and give our decision in coming days.''
Responding to a question if a conditional date would be given to Turkey in Copenhagen or a date to take up Turkey's position would be given, Juncker said, ''two version that you propose is equivalent to 'Helsinki plus.' A clear reference frame should be given in Copenhagen and this frame should make every commitment about a schedule to Turkey. That is, there is no need to give a date to Turkey in Copenhagen at all costs. However, there should be a clarity about the schedule. That is, I am against hypocrisy that will be caused by delaying things and the date of negotiations.''
Juncker noted, ''the negotiations should start on the day they should start. There is a thing which makes me laugh. We said that 'Helsinki plus plus should be' in Copenhagen. There should be a commitment and both Turkey and the EU should have a time to prepare. This should be achieved with the compromise of 15 EU member countries. The commitment has to be clearly made. Turkey's place in Europe is no longer a matter of discussion. This decision has been taken and Turkey is a candidate country. We should be serios and respect to Turkish people. As 15 country, let's reach a compromise among us. We should not make Turkish people feel rejected by the EU and should state this clearly. Of course, conditions have to be fulfilled. We will take up this issue together with our Turkish friends in Copenhagen.''
When a date was given, it should be a real date, Juncker stated and said, ''we cannot say that we will start negotiations with Turkey tomorrow morning and then, keep them waiting for years and turn down their expectations.''
Juncker pointed out that he wanted to mean many things when he said that ''Copenhagen summit should be more than Helsinki.''
He was against a perspective saying that 'Turkey should not be a part of the EU', Juncker stressed.
Noting that the road map after Copenhagen ''should be clearly put forth'', Juncker added that Erdogan's statements about reforms were ''sincere.''