TURKEY INTRODUCED CONCRETE REFORMS IN EU PROCESS

Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis said that Turkey has introduced concrete reforms and data in EU process.

Minister Bagis, hosting Erdal Bahcivan, the Chairman of Board of Directors of Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO), Zeynep Bodur Okyay, the Chairman of Chamber Assembly, and the members of the board of directors, in Ortakoy Office of the Ministry, evaluated the issues on visa exemption.

Bagis, stating that they constantly underlined that EU had to get rid of its mental  stagnation as soon as possible and pave the way for Turkey’s membership process, said “Turkey’s private sector, NGOs, public and central administration, the political party in power and opposition parties introduced concrete reforms and data as a single power in EU process”.

Bagis, calling those who claim that Turkey was not ready to EU membership to travel around Turkey, said the followings:

“Upon travelling Turkey, I want them to be our guests. Turkey is in a better condition than a lot of countries in terms of transportation, democracy, freedom of expression, food-hygiene standards, power of its economy and of the potential of its army. Turkey is a country which started to exceed the EU standards in every aspect. We are in a period in which the dreams of Atatürk came true. As a country which exceeded the level of prosperous civilization, we have the purchasing power parity per capita higher than most of the EU countries.  We have a clear path to proceed. If only our stability would not be destroyed in 2014.”

Minister Bagis, upon a question on the latest developments in visa-free travel to EU, said that visa exemption was not a favor; instead it was “the right of the citizens”.

Bagis said “Visa exemption is the result of our efforts for recovering one of the biggest damages caused by 1980 coup.” and indicated that everybody, the business life, chambers, NGOs and the ministries provided significant contributions on this issue, but the architect of the visa exemption process was the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who instructed them to stand firm without getting stubborn and who personally followed and directed each stage of this process.

Minister Bagis said “Hopefully, the signature ceremony will be realized in the presence of our Prime Minister and the process of visa exemption negotiation will start. We witness that the citizens of countries experienced the same process access the right of free movement within 3 or 3, 5 years. I hope that we will have a period in which everybody will fully enjoy the right of free movement without having discrimination towards our citizens.”