ID :
164086
Fri, 02/25/2011 - 22:18
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/164086
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Turkish President Gul says expects EU to keep its words on Turkey's EU bid
ANKARA (A.A) - 25.02.2011 - Turkish President Abdullah Gul met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Ankara on Friday and voiced Turkey's expectation from the European Union to keep its words and give a chance to Turkey to finish membership negotiations successfully.
At a joint press conference following their tete-a-tete meeting, Gul told reporters that the two countries had deep-rooted relations for over 500 years and reaffirmed Turkey's determination to maintain strong ties.
Sarkozy is visiting Turkey as the president of G20, Gul recalled, adding that he expects Sarkozy to make a visit to Ankara also as the French President.
It has been 19 years since the last visit of a French President to Turkey.
Gul said Turkey's EU bid was one of the most important topics of the agenda at his meeting with Sarkozy.
"We expect EU to keep its promises made to us and give us a chance to complete negotiation process successfully," Gul said.
Once the negotiation process is over, Gul said, Turkey would show respect to decisions of some EU-member states, such as France and Austria, who already decided to hold referendum on Turkey's membership.
"I shared our expectation that everybody should help this process go on. This is a very sensitive issue for Turkish people and, as I said before, negotiations should not be blocked by artificial barriers," he said.
On economic relations, Gul said trade volume between Turkey and France reached 12 billion euro and there is a huge potential for Turkish and French companies, adding that there are nearly 2,000 French companies active in Turkey. Gul also said that he shares Sarkozy's views about the global economic order and measures to avoid further financial downturns in the world.
On turmoil in Libya, Gul expressed Turkey's concern on the unrest and deaths, and said Turkish government is closely watching what's happening in north African nation as there are thousands of Turkish people living in Libya and working at projects carried out by Turkish companies.
Turkey has so far evacuated nearly 10,000 of its nationals from this country. Turkish authorities earlier put the number of Turks in Libya as 25,000.
Gul also said that Turkey attaches great importance to political, economic and social reforms in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, adding that Turkey has been watched by regional countries since it implements democracy, the rule of law and EU's Copanhagen standards as a majority-Muslim country.
At a joint press conference following their tete-a-tete meeting, Gul told reporters that the two countries had deep-rooted relations for over 500 years and reaffirmed Turkey's determination to maintain strong ties.
Sarkozy is visiting Turkey as the president of G20, Gul recalled, adding that he expects Sarkozy to make a visit to Ankara also as the French President.
It has been 19 years since the last visit of a French President to Turkey.
Gul said Turkey's EU bid was one of the most important topics of the agenda at his meeting with Sarkozy.
"We expect EU to keep its promises made to us and give us a chance to complete negotiation process successfully," Gul said.
Once the negotiation process is over, Gul said, Turkey would show respect to decisions of some EU-member states, such as France and Austria, who already decided to hold referendum on Turkey's membership.
"I shared our expectation that everybody should help this process go on. This is a very sensitive issue for Turkish people and, as I said before, negotiations should not be blocked by artificial barriers," he said.
On economic relations, Gul said trade volume between Turkey and France reached 12 billion euro and there is a huge potential for Turkish and French companies, adding that there are nearly 2,000 French companies active in Turkey. Gul also said that he shares Sarkozy's views about the global economic order and measures to avoid further financial downturns in the world.
On turmoil in Libya, Gul expressed Turkey's concern on the unrest and deaths, and said Turkish government is closely watching what's happening in north African nation as there are thousands of Turkish people living in Libya and working at projects carried out by Turkish companies.
Turkey has so far evacuated nearly 10,000 of its nationals from this country. Turkish authorities earlier put the number of Turks in Libya as 25,000.
Gul also said that Turkey attaches great importance to political, economic and social reforms in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, adding that Turkey has been watched by regional countries since it implements democracy, the rule of law and EU's Copanhagen standards as a majority-Muslim country.
