Turkey’s Gul confident on EU talks date

In a letter to the European Union term president, the Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, and the EU Commissioner responsible for expansion, Günter Verheugen, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said he was confident Turkey had met the criteria for opening membership talks with the EU.
However, the letter also highlighting some issues that Ankara disagreed with in the report prepared by the European Commission on Turkey’s progress in implementing the reforms required to qualify for accession.
The Foreign Minister in his letter said that the terms for Turkey’s negotiation process was clear. He asked for more specifics on the serious human right abuses and breaches of democracy referred to in the report. Gul also said it was worrying that the negotiation process was to be open ended, something that would leave a door ajar for the negotiation process not to result in full membership for Turkey.
Gul is to meet with Bot on Monday in Holland and is expected to elaborate the views and concerns outlined in the letter.