INTERVIEW WITH SPANISH STATE TELEVISION BY BAGIS

AK Party Vice Chairman Egemen Bagis, gave an interview to the Spanish State Television (TVE) on 27 May 2008 at the AK Party Headquarters. Bagis answered the questions of Esther Vazquez Garcia, producer of the TV program called ‘En Portada', regarding the contemporary domestic and foreign policies set in the agenda and the relations between Turkey-Spain.

Replying, firstly, the question of Garcia about the closure case against the AK Party by reminding the secular, democratic and social principles intrinsic to Turkish Republic, Bagis mentioned that these principles have been fortified by the ruling AK Party. He declared that the judges sitting at the Constitutional Court will come up with taking all these into consideration and he believed that AK Party will not be closed and Turkish democracy will be sustained at the end of this process.

For the question related to the struggle with PKK, Bagis reported that "The decisive policies jointly executed by the current government and Turkish Military have made the terrorist organization ineffectual. In this respect, the diplomatic actions initiated by our government in order to convince and gain the support of international community in the sense that there is no religion, nation or race of any terrorist organization and cannot be a distinction between a ‘good' or ‘bad' terrorist, have contributed to Turkey's struggle with PKK. However, PKK terrorism has not ended. AK Party government will keep its commitment for struggling the PKK"

Bağış, also, commented on recent developments in Turkish domestic and foreign policies.

In the last part of the interview, Turkey-Spain relations were elaborated. Bağış recounted that Spain is considered as a friendly and allied country and the relations between Turkey and Spain have developed very much particularly after the AK Party government.

In addition, Bağış told about the project called ‘Alliance of Civilizations' which is prosecuted within the United Nations. He claimed that this project is one of the most significant projects in world history and it is very meaningful for Turkey and Spain to lead the project cooperatively.