"TURKEY HAS BECOME INTEGRATED WITH THE WEST IN EVERY FIELD" SAYS BAGIS

Speaking at the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI)'s Assembly Meeting, Egemen Bagis, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator, said that the EU process required working in cooperation and that the private sector had a very important role in Turkey today.

Stating that Turkey's economic development was in line with the EU process, Bagis said that today, Turkey became integrated with the West in every field.

Indicating that Turkey has joined the European Investment Bank, appeared in Eurovision and in UEFA also, Bagis reminded the fact that among the members of the European Democrat Group, AK Party Antalya MP Mevlut Cavusoglu was elected to the chair of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) receiving 29 votes while his British opponent got 21 votes.

Stating that, assuming everything goes well, the chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe would be a Turkish citizen for the first time in history, Bagis emphasized that a lot of European institutions were represented by Turkish citizens, private companies and non-governmental organizations.

About the UN Security Council, Bagis said they experienced that Turkey could be the cure to world problems on a platform where world problems were discussed and added "Our Europeanness is a reality that cannot be ignored despite the Europeans. In this process we have overcome some of our problems. However once we overcome the problems requiring to be achieved, once we solve problems such as democratic expansion, amelioration of relations with our neighbors, than no one can stop Turkey."

Pointing out that Turkey tried to settle the disputes in the region, contribute to reconciliation and contribute to peace with her soldiers in 30 countries, Egemen Bagis said that there was no reason to be hopeless and that were many reasons to be hopeful.

Stating that, while talking about the European Union process, he frequently described the EU as "Turkey's dietician", Bagis said that being the 4th greatest labor power and the youngest population of Europe, there was no reason for Turkey to be pessimistic and added "The most important reason is our young and dynamic population and our self-sufficient economy. You may be sure that our government is determined to follow the diet program."

Talking about the steps the government took in the last 9 months, Minister Bagis said "We have attained a judicial reform strategy. For the time being, we are working on it. Our institutions and Audit Board of Prime Ministry have prepared the Strategy document in fight against corruption. It is approved by our institutions and is anticipated to be released in a couple of weeks."

Bagis continued as follows: "Turkey is legally entitled to the full membership negotiations. The decision to start the negotiations has been taken unanimously. The only way to prevent this is again unanimous voting. Let them find the necessary 27 votes. In 50 years time, Turkey has become the 6th greatest economy and one of the key countries of Europe without being a member of the EU. Let them take the initiative that would make the unanimous decision required to suggest a different option to Turkey. If they can't risk losing Turkey, then we don't have to take seriously their messages which are directed to their internal policies.

Source: AA