Turkey’s EU membership was taken up during a general meeting …

Turkey’s EU membership was taken up during a general meeting in parliament yesterday. Speaking before the assembly, Erdogan said that Turkey’s modernization and democratization efforts had been continuing for more than 150 years. Noting that the Sixth Adaptation Package due to soon be submitted to parliament would complete the EU political criteria, Erdogan requested that these efforts not be viewed as "compromise or surrender." Underlining that the EU criteria were standard for all those desiring to join the union, Erdogan stressed that the security and foreign policy isolation within the region that would result from not being a member of the union would never be the choice of the government.

Erdogan continued his address as follows:

"Which of the values presented by the union includes anything that Turkey cannot accept? Is it democracy or supremacy of law or freedom of thought and action or economic prosperity? We see EU membership as a tool to elevate the Turkish people to the level of civilization. The Turks define themselves as European.

"The Turkish Armed Forces is the renaissance of the modernization and democratization process. There is no other nation in the world that sees its soldiers as ‘Mehmetcik,’ meaning ‘Little Muhammed.’ And be careful: We put henna on our palms two times — during wedding ceremonies and when we send our sons off to military service. We have been educated by such an Anatolian way of thinking.

"As the government and the parliament, it should be our principal duty to listen to people and fulfill their wishes. The Turkish people have chosen contemporary civilization and the EU. And, for the first time, we are very close to the full membership opportunity with the EU. We owe it to the country to fulfill our responsibilities. Our responsibility before history makes it necessary. Together we will found a contemporary, secular, democratic and prosperous Turkey."