"EU MEMBERSHIP IS NOT A TEMPORARY WISH BUT A STRATEGIC GOAL"

Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis met with the chairpersons of Economic and Social Council's civil institutions at a meal in TOBB center. Bagis said that the EU membership wasn't a whim but a strategic target.

Stating that various sects, institutions and sectors cooperatively supported the process, Bagis said "This is a state policy. In this process, there is no disagreement between the ruling party and the opposition."

Indicating that there was no disagreement between the military and the civilians, between the young and the old or between the employer and the employee, Bagis said everyone in Turkey joined hands to reach the EU standards, democracy, justice, employee and employer rights and human rights.

Egemen Bagis stated that the EU process wasn't only the most important modernization project of the country after the declaration of the Republic, but the most important democratic initiative at the same time and added "The Project of National Unity and Brotherhood initiated by our Prime Minister would develop empathy among us and would enable us understand each other's problems."

Reminding that Turkey was the 6th biggest economy of Europe, Bagis said that Turkey had made an important progress in the field of human rights; and murders by unknown assailants, torture and intellectuals, politicians or authors under custody were out of question in Turkey.

Bagis continued: "We have some problems in Turkey. However, we don't ignore them. We don't sweep them under the carpet. We are facing them with our own will. We produce effective solutions to solve them."

Rifat Hisarciklioglu, the President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, said that this picture was the most concrete indicator which showed the way how to prepare the roadmap of Turkey on the way to EU in the forthcoming period. Hisarciklioglu stated that the government and the nongovernmental organisations and trade bodies had to take joint actions in this process.

Source: AA