"WE SHOULD REVIVE THE HELSINKI SPIRIT"

During his visit to Finland, Egemen Bagis, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator delivered a speech on Turkey-EU relations at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki.

Reiterating Turkey's determination to become a full member of the EU, Bagis said the spirit of Helsinki in 1999, when Turkey achieved candidate status should be revived and asked Finland to maintain its support to Turkey.

Stating that in order to fulfill the EU criteria, Turkey carried out numerous reforms in the last year only, Bagis summarized those reforms.

Bagis said Ankara was determined to become a full member and that they wouldn't give up this target. Bagis said: "We should revive the Helsinki spirit" and pointed out that not only Turkey but also the EU would benefit from Turkey's full membership.

Referring to the Greek Cypriot, Bagis said ‘people having no energy problems and living on a sunny island in the middle of the Mediterranean' tried to hinder the opening of energy chapter in Turkey-which was an important country in the solution for Europe's energy crisis. Bagis said this situation was not fair and that the EU states shouldn't let it happen.

Upon a question about the Nabucco project, Bagis said that the project included two important aspects such as resource and investment. Bagis reported that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made contacts in Iran and that Iran was ready to transmit gas to Europe via Turkey.

On a question about the Cyprus issue, Bagis summarized the process and stated that they, as the Turkish side wanted this issue to be solved.

Source: AA