EUSG TOBB TWIN TOWERS OFFICES INAUGURATED

TOBB Ankara EU Information Centre and additional offices of the Secretariat General for EU Affairs which were established within the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) were inaugurated by Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis, President of TOBB Rifat Hisarciklioglu, Secretary General for EU Affairs Ambassador Volkan Bozkir and Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Turkey Ambassador Marc Pierini.

In his speech delivered during the inauguration, Bagis stated that EU was a strategic target for Turkey and he added that civil society organizations, governmental institutions, the academic world and the media joined their forces in Turkey. Bagis said: "We neither gave opportunity to the people trying to prevent Turkey's EU membership process in EU countries, nor gave a chance to the ones who want Turkey to be governed by the gangs. We collaborated in many fields to make Turkey more European, more democratic and more contemporary than ever. Turkey's determination will continue in the future as well.

Stating that there was serious disinformation campaigns related to EU process in Turkey, Bagis said that there were conscious focal points in Turkey trying to mislead people about what EU is or what it is not. Bagis emphasized that these focal points were trying to confuse people with unreal news via internet. Bagis pointed out that the important thing was not to open the chapters in the EU negotiation process but to open the minds.

Bagis stated that the present Constitution was not enough for Turkey and he said: "It is like a magnet pushing us back to the past. It is high time to have a constitution that everybody can embrace and say ‘my constitution'. The EU process is a common platform that can bring all of our citizens together and this process will also provide us a Constitution at the European standards." Bagis made a call to the opposition parties and asked for a draft Constitution.

In his speech, Secretary General for EU Affairs and Ambassador Volkan Bozkir emphasized to the importance of the EU Information Centres which ensure easy access to information; increase participation into the process; and strengthen the cooperation among the public institutions, the EU and the non-governmental organizations. Bozkir also pointed to the psychological obstacles and bias regarding the EU process both in the EU and in Turkey. Bozkir stated that with the aim of overcoming these obstacles, Secretary General for EU Affairs, other public institutions, EU Delegation and non-governmental organizations had been carrying out informational activities for years and EU Information Centres were very important in this respect.

The President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) Rifat Hisarciklioglu indicated that as the framing institution of the business world they made significant investments on the EU accession process and they did not want to leave them unreturned. Hisarciklioglu said that they asked the Member States to keep the commitments of the Union and be faithful to the principle of pacta sunt servanda.

Marc Pierini, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Turkey said that the source of progress in the accession negotiations process was the reforms in Turkey and pointed out the importance of progress made by the Turkish government.

After the speeches, the protocol on TOBB Ankara EU Information Centre was signed by Hisarciklioglu and Pierini and TOBB Ankara EU Information Centre and the Service Building of the Secretariat General for EU Affairs were inaugurated.

Source: AA