Erdogan: Continue to Lobby for the EU

During a reception for Turkish citizens living in London on the last day of his visit to England, the Prime Minister advised: "Act collectively and be united. You should lobby for the EU." Erdogan stressed that adaptation and implementation must be conducted at once, saying, "We should continued our activities until December of 2004."

Regarding the issue of broadcasting in native languages, Erdogan said: ‘there was resistance on this issue. This has been overcome and the broadcasts have begun. There were also debates while opening the [language] courses. Marginal mentality resisted on this issue as well.’ Erdogan said Turkish people living in Europe may face some problems from time to time, but said, "We should learn to live with problems. Then we can integrate the society we live in with our own values."

In a discussion of the reforms that have been done for the EU, the Prime Minister noted they also made compromises concerning faith and said, "We replaced the word mosque with temple. Just as Turkish people have places to worship abroad, we also sincerely meet such demands of communities here in Turkey." Prime Minister added, "This is a mentality change. It is not easy to save societies from their habits."