EP PRESIDENT SCHULZ GRANTED WITH HONORARY DOCTORATE

President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz received an honorary doctorate degree in political science from Istanbul Bilgi University. Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis presented the honorary doctorate in the ceremony held at the Santral Campus of the University.

In his speech, Bagis indicated that they had the opportunity to work together in various positions for the last 10 years with Schulz, who has always supported Turkey’s democratization process.

Bagis reminded that today was the anniversary of Istanbul’s conquest and added “Today is a very important day for our history. Today is the anniversary of Istanbul’s conquest. Our great grand fathers have achieved a great success. But we are not conquering countries anymore. Instead, we are trying to conquer hearts and minds. We are trying to conquer as many hearts and minds as possible for Turkey’s full EU membership.”

In his speech Martin Schulz said: “It is wrong to think that Turkey’s being a Muslim country and Europe’s having civilian values are two issues excluding each other, since the EU is based on some values, which Turkey is adopting. I do support Turkey’s EU accession.”

Within his Turkey visit, Schulz also attended the opening meeting of TGNA-EU Project on Parliamentary Exchange and Dialogue, which aims to strengthen the dialogue among TGNA, EP and parliaments of the EU members.

Source: AA