Gul: E.U. Issue Has Number One Priority

Gul said that the new defense concepts discussed in Europe were on the agenda of the meeting, adding that he would explain the ideas of Turkey about that issue during the meeting. Gul added that they would also take up the recent developments about the Middle East peace process and post-war era in Iraq.

Gul said that the years 2003 and 2004 were very critical for EU membership process of Turkey, adding that ”EU has the number one priority for Turkey and the government.”

”EU is not only the issue of the government, we want all sections of the society including NGOs to take part in EU process,” Gul said.

Gul remarked that Europe would complete its enlargement when it admits a big country such as Turkey, adding that ”EU has to admit Turkey in order to play a strategic role in world incidents. In this context, Iraqi war had taught many things to everybody. The war in Iraq divided EU into two and weakened it. It has been seen that Europe does not still have the capacity to act at an organized level when defense was in question.” Gul said that he would explain to EU foreign ministers that the separation of NATO and EU was not rational regarding the security of Europe.

Upon a question about the ”package of proposals” of Greek Cypriot side for Turkish Cypriots, Gul said that ”the things that could not be done on paper are done in practice. Both sides try to do that and passages between the two sides increased the trust.”

”When the sides sit around the negotiation table, there won’t be many things left to be done,” Gul said adding that there are things that can be accepted and can’t be accepted in the package of the Greek Cypriot side.

”But the embargo should immediately be lifted, because embargoes are no longer acceptable in the world. EU and the whole world have to review the issue of embargo carefully. Certainly Turkey should lift the embargo on the Greek Cypriot side. These are steps which need to be taken reciprocally.”

When asked if recognition of the Greek Cypriot side was among the steps to be taken by Turkey, Gul said that ”recognition can only be possible when lasting peace is ensured. Now we discuss the issues which will ease the process of reaching the final solution.”

(ÖS) 03.05.2003