Turkish PM "EU did not impose a conditional yes"

Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a press conference in the French city of Strasbourg where he was the official guest of the Parliamentary Assembly Of the European Council on Wednesday to assess the EU Commission’s progress report.

Erdogan said, "Turkey has made great progress, which EU officials called a ‘silent revolution’. We have passed the first level of our race to the EU. On December 17th, the negotiation process will commence."

"We will do our best for the member countries to agree with the commission’s recommendation. We hope the negotiations will start on the first months of 2005," he said.

Erdogan also said, "Turkey has all the means to take the necessary steps to gain EU membership."

On a question about the EU’s "conditional yes" to Turkey, Erdogan said "There is no such thing. I think this must be a misunderstanding."