Privileged EU partnership is not an alternative

Gul told a press conference in German capital of Berlin and said, "privileged partnership is not an alternative. Our target and course is certain. I told CDU (Christian Democrat Union) leader Angela Merkel during our meeting that we would not accept privileged partnership. And, she said that this depended on decisions to be made during negotiations."

FM Gul said that he exchanged views about path to be followed on the road to EU membership after the European Commission made public its progress report on Turkey on October 6th.

Drawing attention that Turkish government had some concerns about the report, Gul said, "we wanted our concerns to be clarified. We discussed some regional problems with (German FM Joschka) Fischer."

Gul said, "we are trying to find the best negotiation style, taking into consideration the situation of Europe."

Before holding press conference, Gul attended a meeting on "Turkey-EU Relations Through December 17th Summit."

In this meeting, Gul said that Turkish Cypriots did their best in April’s simultaneous referenda held on (UN Secretary General Kofi) Annan’s plan in Cyprus, while the Greek Cypriots shocked the entire world.

Gul noted, "we are now waiting for UN to take resolutions. I hope the Greek Cypriot side will once more review its stance. We believe we fulfilled our responsibilities."

Regarding Turkey’s EU membership bid, Gul said that Turkey knew that its negotiation process would take a long time, and expected the EU to be honest.

Gul stated that what was important for both parties (Turkey and the EU) was to gain at the end of the negotiation process.

Asked about religious freedom in Turkey, Gul said, "religious freedom is the most important element of fundamental rights. We are trying to ensure religious freedom, but none of the countries are perfect."

Answering a question on torture allegations in Turkey, Gul said, "our government has said that it would show zero tolerance towards torture. And, non-governmental organizations also say that there is not any systematic torture in Turkey. There may be some individual torture cases, but we have thought how we can prevent them. There are human rights committees in every town of Turkey today. And, torture cases are notified to us immediately, and we intervene instantly. We are always on alert because torture is a shame."

Gul is expected to return to Turkey in the evening.