28th REFORM MONITORING GROUP MEETING

The 28th meeting of the Reform Monitoring Group was held under the auspices of Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis with participation of Minister of Justice Sadullah Ergin, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu, Minister of the Interior Muammer Guler, Co-Chairman of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee Afif Demirkiran and Undersecretary of the Prime Ministry Efkan Ala.

Realising a press meeting, Minister Bagis emphasized the importance of holding the RMG meeting at such a critical time for our country, region and for the EU.

“In particular, sincerity and determination of our Government regarding democracy and freedoms have been once again demonstrated in consideration of the recent events” said Bagis and added that the main item on the agenda of the 28th RMG meeting was doubtless the reforms undertaken through the EU harmonisation process.

Minister Bagis indicated that Turkey today had the most reformist, transparent, libertarian, determined and powerful government in its history, and that it was clear that the reforms they had realised in the past ten and a half years were towards strengthening democracy in Turkey and removing obstacles before fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizens without any discrimination.

Emphasising their determination in reforms, Minister Bagis said the following regarding the demonstrations in Taksim Gezi Park:

“The demonstrations which had started with regard to the Gezi Park in Taksim and later gained a different dimension due to its exploitation by marginal and illegal groups, should be seen as an indicator of the strengthening of the democratic atmosphere in Turkey. Our public has been informed about the investigations, as well as the results of these investigations regarding the security forces which have forced the boundaries of intervention. However, despite all this, broadcasts by the international media and portrayal by certain circles as if there were an extraordinary situation in Turkey is not accurate at all.”

Bagis indicated that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had demonstrated the utmost sensitivity early on for the issue to be resolved through dialogue and had been in dialogue with different groups. Bagis added that similarly, their government and local administrators had addressed the issue with the same sensitivity and had not ended the dialogue process.

Bagis also added:

“However, it is incomprehensible that some European countries and EU officials continue to make statements that embolden circles that are exploiting the process. Recalling the bad practices regarding the freedom of expression, the freedom of the media and the freedom of assembly in some countries, the EU’s lack of response to these countries and overreaction to smaller-scale demonstrations in Turkey is contradictory. Given the fact that Turkey meets the Copenhagen Political Criteria, which has been confirmed by the EU, Turkey’s EU accession negotiations should be accepted as a technical process. The EU needs to reflect on the fact that when it comes to Turkey, political matters are continuously discussed rather than the technical process. Turkey is a democratic state governed by the rule of law and capable of deciding of which mechanisms and remedies to use for resolving internal issues. Turkey is not a country which can be stalled with vague promises, kept waiting at the door or given in to threats.”

We are also at an important turning point on the visa issue, which has been brought to the agenda as the most problematic issue for our citizens regarding Turkey-EU relations. Concrete developments in this area would contribute to re-establish the weakening confidence of our citizens in the EU.

We expect that the conditions and methods that have been applied to other candidate countries to be applied to Turkey, due to Turkey’s status as a candidate country carrying out negotiations and a result of more than fifty years of Turkey-EU relations.

Bagis indicated that Turkey would undertake its own assessment in line with its own strategic preferences and responses and added “The sincere expectation of our Government and our people from the EU is for this process to progress on the basis which it deserves. The EU needs to acknowledge the determination and sincerity of our Government regarding the reforms and reciprocate this determination.”