Gul: EU First on Turkey’s Agenda

Gul attended a working dinner yesterday with his wife, Hayrunisa Gul, on Meis Island along with the foreign ministers of EU countries and candidate countries. Answering journalists’ questions after the gathering Gul, said, "The first drafts of laws that must be passed are ready, and we will pass them within a short period of time."

Gul explained that the main agenda of the meeting, which began in Rhodes and was continued yesterday on Meis and in the Kas district of Antalya, was security issues sparked by the Iraq crisis. "A few EU countries have tried to create a new concept of defense, which has resulted in some differences of opinion within the EU. We will discuss this. Turkey doesn’t consider the security initiative to be completely separate from NATO. We are of the opinion that that it is not very rational," he said, adding, "The EU will complete its expansion by accepting a large country like Turkey."

Kas / TURKEY