Gul: Now Relations With The E.U. Have Reached A Point Of No Return

ANKARA - Prime Minister Abdullah Gul has said that Turkey-European Union (EU) relations had reached a point of no return after the Copenhagen summit.
Gul briefed on Tuesday the Parliamentary General Assembly on the developments after the Copenhagen summit and about the Cyprus issue.
Noting that a ''new progress was recorded'' on the EU path with the Copenhagen summit, Gul said, ''with this meeting, Turkey's adventure of being together with the EU has reached a specific phase.''
Stating that uncertainty had continued although Turkey had passed several stages on the EU path for forty years, Gul said, ''although, Turkey's candidacy was accepted at the Helsinki summit, Turkey's candidacy process was continuing in virtual world.''
Stressing that this had been made real at the meeting in Copenhagen, Gul said, ''now relations with the EU have reached a point of no return. A definite date regarding negotiations was set. Efforts of our government and steps taken on the EU path were appreciated. Turkey which was shown in candidate status earlier when Turkey-EU relations were in question and especially financial relations were in question, was included in the list of countries that started negotiations in regard to stake they will take from the budget. These are important steps.''
Gul said that President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal and Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan had made great contributions to those steps.
Recalling that the government had rapidly sent legal arrangements which would provide implementation of the Copenhagen criteria to the parliament, Gul said that the power and the opposition were exerting great efforts to adopt those arrangements.
Stressing that the meeting in Copenhagen was very important, Gul said, ''interests and policies of many EU countries are in question. We should be realistic. We can't reach appropriate results if we only look from our point of view. By taking these into consideration, we expended efforts till the last minute to win an earlier date for negotiations. We held a number of contacts in Copenhagen. We said that Turkey should be given a date for opening of accession talks and uncertainty should end and we had fulfilled our duties and responsibilities to this end. We told them that Turkey deserved to win a date.''
Noting that decisions at the EU meetings were taken unanimously, Gul said that there had been many different opinions but as a result of Turkey's extraordinary efforts, it had been included to the final statement of the summit that accession talks with Turkey would start in December of 2004 without any delay.
''We wanted the talks to start in the beginning of 2004 but it was set as December 2004,'' he said.
Stressing that EU countries leaders had told them that they had not expected such extraordinary efforts from the Turkish government, Gul said, ''they told us, 'we were not expecting to reach this point three months ago. Your efforts have put pressure on us'. We are realistic and will continue to be so.''

GUL: WE ARE NOT MAKING SECRET BARGAINING ABOUT CYPRUS
''We are not making a secret bargaining about the Cyprus issue so yesterday's news reports in the press were not true,'' he said.
Noting that Cyprus had not been the main topic at the Copenhagen summit and it had not been discussed much during bilateral contacts as it was expected, Gul stressed that the decision on the Cyprus issue had been taken at the Helsinki summit.
Recalling that they had explained at the Copenhagen summit that 'the Greek Cypriot side cannot represent whole island alone and the European Union (EU) should help solution of the issue and should not take a position making the issue more difficult', Gul said that they had told EU officials that they were protecting their rights stemming from agreements in the past.
Noting that talks in Cyprus were continuing in regard to the United Nations, Gul said, ''any secret thing about Cyprus is not in question. I want to draw everybody's attention to the point that this is a long-term issue and we should not use it as a tool in domestic policy because it is a national case.''
''Everything is clear and there are agreements. U.N. Secretary General's package is clear. No we have to be cool and take a decision. We have been having contacts with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) officials on the Cyprus issue. Consequently, if there won't be a decision which also satisfies us, we definitely don't accept it.''
Stressing that Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis had made a statement on the Cyprus issue, Gul said this statement was misunderstood and interpreted differently. ''The Turkish Foreign Minister's priority is the interests of Turkey and the TRNC. Nobody should doubt about it. Due to these concerns, the Foreign Minister made a long-term analysis.''
''We will never give our solidarity with the Turkish Cypriots. We don't say 'yes' to anything that may endanger their future. We expend efforts for their future. The talks are under way and they will continue. A result is beneficial to both Turkey and the TRNC. Cyprus did not joint the EU as Cyprus Greek Cypriot Republic. It joined as a new Cyprus and as a new value that the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides will bring together. You will see this also in the report. Any secret thing is not in question. We altogether will say 'yes' to it if we reach a compromise that also satisfies us. But if there won't be a result that satisfies us, we undoubtedly will continue to protect our rights till the end as we are a great country.''