IRELAND SUPPORTS TURKEY'S EU PROCESS

Paying an official visit to Dublin, Ireland, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis came together with Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Michael Martin and Irish Minister for EU Affairs Dick Roche in the Irish Parliament.

In the joint press meeting, Bagis said it was a positive meeting and that Turkey welcomed Ireland's support in Turkey's EU process.

Stating that they should benefit from the commercial potential between Turkey and Ireland, Bagis mentioned Ireland's visa faciliation, indicating that this facilitation enabled more students to go to Ireland for education. Bagis said they expected a similar facilitation for the business men and added that they wanted to increase the number of Irish tourists visiting Turkey.

Mentioned the Cyprus issue also, Bagis said as an experienced island country, Ireland could be a good source of inspiration for the solution of the Cyprus problem. Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis also indicated that he wanted the EU to act more fairly in the solution of the Cyprus issue.

Under the scope of his Ireland visit, Egemen Bagis also delivered a speech on Turkey-EU relations in the Irish Institute of International and European Affairs.

"Today's Turkey is much better than yesterday's" Bagis said and reminded that although Turkey took many steps in the last 8 years, 17 chapters were blocked in the negotiation process, due to political reasons. Egemen Bagis indicated that the EU didn't always act fairly and emphasised the importance of Ireland's support for Turkey.

Bagis said "We hope that the reforms we have been carrying out in determination would assist our friends and Ireland in particular, to further raise their voices in support of Turkey's EU accession process."

Source:AA