"THE GOVERNMENT IN TURKEY IS CHANGING FROM THE NOTION OF SUPREME GOVERNMENT TO THE NOTION OF SUPREME INDIVIDUAL"

Egemen Bagis, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator, inaugurated the new building of Consulate General in Vienna which has recently been put into service.

Speaking at the opening ceremony Bagis pointed out that Government was changing in Turkey, emphasized " Government is changing from the notion of supreme government to the notion of supreme individual".

Bagis stated that "One should make the individual supreme so that the government becomes supreme". Reminding Atatürk's words " One can not be a master to the nation but one can provide services to the nation", Bagis said: "We are here to render services to our nation. We are in these positions by the virtue of you. To provide services to you is our main duty.

Bagis stated that he worked for many years as the Chairman of the Federation of Turkish - American Associations in the USA and knew very well the meaning of living abroad and being homesick, and he suggested Turkish citizens in Austria to learn the language of the country they live fluently and to enroll their children in the best schools."

Bagis called Turkish citizens in Austria to exercise their constitutional rights to intervene in the political life and vote for the elections, and mentioning the Turkish-origined deputies attending the ceremony, he said "If you adapt yourselves to the societies where you live, exercise your constitutional rights and learn the language of that country fluently, you will have many other Alevs (Alev Korun, Green Party Deputy), Sirvans (Sirvan Ekici, People's Party Deputy) and Nurtens (Nurten Yılmaz, Social Democrat Party Deputy)."

Bagis reminded that the Consulate building in Vienna was purchased in 1916 when the Ottoman State was facing problems, and said the Consulate General building opened that day was built thanks to the great efforts made by Ambassador Selim Yenel and Consul General Sedat Önal.

"Everything starts with believing," said Bagis, stating that the consulate general building was opened to eliminate the difficulties experienced by Turkish citizens living in Vienna, and continued " If we believe we will be a member state of the EU some day."

After the ceremony during which Selim Yenel, Ambassador of Turkey in Vienna also delivered a speech, State Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis opened the consulate general building to service together with Ambassador Selim Yenel, Consul General Sedat Önal, and Sandra Frauenberger, the Officer of the Vienna Municipality in charge of Integration.

The ceremony was attended by Ambassador Yusuf Buluç, Turkish permanent representative at Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Heide Maria Gürer, Ambassador of Austria in Ankara, Turkish-origined deputies from various political parties in Austria and the representatives of Turkish associations active in Vienna.

Source: AA