Turkey’s Gul: Objective is full membership

Gul submitted his ministry’s 2005 budget to the parliamentary Planning and Budget Commission on Tuesday and while presenting his budget to the commission gave a detailed briefing on Turkey’s foreign relations in terms of countries and international agencies.

Gul said that his government was committed to implementing the necessary democratization and human rights reforms to turn the country into a land of freedom, adding, "The wide-ranging reform process that aims to provide the highest living standards for our citizens also includes measures that allows us to proceed towards our EU objective."

He said significant strides had been made in combating torture, mistreatment and corruption, and that measures had been put into place guarding the freedom of expression and religion, in addition to the abolition of the death penalty and the strengthening of civilian authority.

Gul said they had passed several constitutional amendments as well as the new Turkish Penal Code (TCK), and he noted that the European Committee for Combating Torture had praised the precautionary measures taking by Turkey. The meaning of Turkey being removed from the inspection watch-list of the European Parliamentary Assembly was that Turkey had fulfilled its responsibilities in harmonizing with EU norms, said Gul, adding, "Turkey has never been this close to its EU membership objective. We see the European Commission’s decision to recommend the start of the negotiations as a very important development. We view the commission’s findings as constructive steps that will provide a boost to Turkey’s membership efforts. Among the commission’s recommendations are certain measures that were not asked of other candidates. I believe the continued dialogue will provide a sensible and progressive solution that will please all sides."

Gul continued: "Turkey’s objective is full membership. There is no other option although there may be those who think differently among the European public. This needs to be respected as a democratic debate going on in public. The pledge of membership does not depend on verbal promises, but on decisions, agreements and top-level assurances. These can’t be ignored."

Gul, speaking on Turkey’s relations with certain countries, said: "We have a deep and strong relationship with the United States that encompasses all matters. We should continue to improve our relationship with the EU based on friendship and alliance, not only to benefit both, but also in order to bring peace and stability to a very large region. As the government we intend to continue our Iraq policy in cooperation with President George W. Bush, who was, of course, elected for a second term in office.

Germany is one of the most important partners of Turkey and the German government is a leading supporter of Turkey joining the EU. While our membership has become an issue of public debate in France, the French administration is in support of our membership. Our bilateral relations with Belgium are very satisfactory. Belgium is among the countries that openly supports our membership.

Holland, which will be EU president at a time when a very important decision on our membership will be taken, is one of our leading investment partners.

Our government made its attitude clear on the day the Greek Cypriot administration became an EU member. Accordingly, Turkey will continue to recognize the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC). Due to legal requirements our government included the Greek Cypriot administration in the customs union on Oct. 2, 2004. Our ministry announced that this definitely did not mean the recognition of the Greek Cypriot administration.

We are very upset and condemn the terrorist attacks in Israel. Everybody knows that terrorism will not resolve the problem. On the other had, Israel’s counter-terrorism policy, which is not too concerned about the well-being of civilians, does not help their objectives and results in a spiral of violence. There can be no resolution of the Israel-Palestinian problem except through dialogue.

In addition, Foreign Minister Gul predicted that a lack of water may create a regional crisis within the next 20 to 25 years.

Finally, he said that Turkey had 93 embassies, 11 permanent representations and 58 consulates overseas and that they intended to purchase the 125 buildings in order to escape paying an annual YTL 20 million in rent.

The Foreign Ministry’s 2005 budget was set as YTL 562 million.