THE LAST ONE YEAR IN THE EU PROCESS

Passing one year in office as the chief negotiator, which he was appointed in January 2009, the Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis, in his statement mentioned the works which were carried out in the last year and which are planned to be carried out in 2010 in the EU process.

Bagis stated that 2009 had been an extremely busy year; he made 34 visits to 17 countries, and went to 32 cities in Turkey. Bagis said that they would mostly focus on communication projects in 2010 in order to counter the attempts of the opponents of EU in Turkey who try to misinform the society and in order to change the views of the prejudiced people against Turkey in EU countries.

Reminding that the National Programme was published and a Minister to focus only on the EU process was appointed in 2009, Egemen Bagis stated that within the scope of the works carried out in one year, May the 1st was declared as an official holiday and Nazım Hikmet's citizenship was restored.

Stating that people had abstained from saying their ethnic origin in Turkey in the past, and adding that that period was left behind due to the works realized, Bağış said: "Radio broadcasting in different languages such as Kurdish and Armenian was commenced.TRT Şeş started broadcasting. TRT's website has started broadcasting in 32 languages. Following the cooperation between TRT and Euronews, Euronews started broadcasting in Turkish. The largest news channel of Europe started broadcasting in Turkish. Some amendments were made in the Turkish Penal Code and the European Standards were reached. A fund that is more than 500 million Euros was transferred to GAP Region."

Explaining that in the progress reports that were published in the past, Turkey was always mentioned with instances of torture and unidentified murders, Bagis said the following:

"Fortunately today, there is no disgraceful instance in the progress report about our country.. Today, Turkey has become more European than ever. Turkey has advanced in a way more powerful and more loyal to the basic values of the Republic, democracy, secularism and equitable constitutional state than ever.

Life style, mother language and ethnic origin of people have been guaranteed by the state. The Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic, as every year, shared his iftar meal with Alewi citizens in Ramadan. A Prime Minister visited djemevi for the first time since Atatürk. In past, a speaking Turkey had used to be mentioned, but infact, there had been a complaining Turkey. Today, Turkey has shifted to a period of listening and empathizing. The state established a dialogue with the Roman, Alewi and Kurdish people. The state established a dialogue with its workers and women. All these indicate that Turkey has advanced rapidly towards becoming a country in EU standards.

Mentioning the year 2010 and stating that their efforts for complying with the EU acquis would continue in that period, Bagis said: "We will open new chapters. But opening minds is more important than opening chapters."

Bagis said the following:

"In 2010, within the framework of EU process, , we will continue to take steps for raising the standards of our citizens and providing a more contemporary, civilised and transparent life for our citizens. As Turkey, our targets regarding 2010 are laid out in our National Programme. We have to terminate the efforts of people against EU in Turkey who misinform the society and open the minds of prejudiced people against Turkey in EU countries. For this reason, we will give great importance to communication in this period. You will see a great increase in our communication projects. We will carry out different communication activities for introducing Turkey in EU Member States and explaining our EU accession process to Turkish people.

Bagis listed the reforms made in the EU process in one year:

- Publishing the National Programme,

- Appointment of Mr. Bagis as the Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator,

- TRT 6 Kurdish broadcastings,

- TRT radio broadcastings in Kurdish and Armenian,

- The enactment of the By-law Amending the By-Law on Electronic Communication Security

- Restoring Turkish citizenship of Nazım Hikmet,

- Approval of the Kyoto Protocol,

- Establishment of the Committee on Equality of Opportunity for Women and Men in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey,

- Euronews Turkish broadcastings following the cooperation between TRT and Euronews,

- Declaring May the 1st as an official holiday,

- Submission of the Draft Law on the Organisation and Duties of the Undersecretariat of Public Order and Security to the General Assembly of the GNAT

- Putting the Decree of Council of Ministers on the Organization of Border Trade into force in order to determine the rules regarding import and export to be made within the scope of border trade with neighbour countries having land frontier with the geographic regions of Eastern and South-eastern Anatolia.

- The bi-monthly convening of the Reform Monitoring Group with the participation of four ministers,

- The Decree of Council of Ministers on the Special Consumption Tax Rates and Minimum Lump-Sum Tax of Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Beverage

- Adoption of the Law on the Organisation of the Secretariat General for European Union by the GNAT

- Accelerating the work of the Internal Coordination and Harmonization Committee,

- Enactment of the Customs Law,

- Opening the Taxation Chapter,

- Publicising the Communication Strategy of European Union.

Source: AA