TURKEY-EU REASSESSMENT OF COMMON INTERESTS

“Turkey-EU: Reassessment of Common Interests” conference was held with the participation of Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis, Minister of Economy Zafer Caglayan and Member of the European Commission Responsible for Enlargement Stefan Füle. 

Delivering a speech at the conference which was co-organised by Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON) and European Policy Centre (EPC), Bagis said, “The point Europe should also see is that the interests are mutual”.

Indicating that in this meeting as well the common interests were reassessed and that Stefan Füle was one of those Europeans who best understood the importance of Turkey, Bagis said,

“He, together with his colleagues, exerts really a great effort to keep this process alive. He himself isn’t unfamiliar with any topic we will discuss today. He is aware of both energy potential of Turkey and young and dynamic population of Turkey. Perhaps most importantly, however, he is also conscious that Turkey has the potential to turn a continental peace project such as the European Union into a global peace project. I think that Europe should in itself reevaluate some issues and realize its own interests. That today appointed technocratic governments take office instead of democratically elected governments in some countries in Europe which are described as the cradle of democracy and which used to give us advice about democracy in the past should in fact give us all pause for thought”.