MINISTER BAGIS COMMENTED ON THE VISIT TO FRANCE

Egemen Bagis, Minister for EU Affairs and the Chief Negotiator, said: "The authorities we met in France, particularly, emphasized that they agreed with us regarding the continuation of the negotiations with Turkey. They also added that an evaluation of the situation should be made in consequence of the negotiations."

In his statement, Bagis emphasized that his visit to France was important in terms of timing. He pointed out that the visit had been beneficial in terms of reviewing with France the critical issues related to EU process and also in terms of enabling France eliminate some incorrect attitudes.

Bagis stated that, they once more had confirmed the fact that France's political will regarding Turkey's EU membership was, for the continuation of the negotiations. Bagis said: "The authorities we met in France, particularly, emphasized that they agreed with us regarding the continuation of the negotiations with Turkey. They also added that an evaluation of the situation should be made in consequence of the negotiations."

Stating that they would continue efforts to develop relations with France, Bagis said:

"France has always supported Turkey in opening each stage and will continue to provide support to Turkey for starting the subsequent stages. We have observed that France closely monitors the strengthening of our economy in this process, the critical role assumed by Turkey in important crises in the world and our regional position, and understands the importance of Turkey better every day. We confirmed during this visit once again that France closely watches and supports the democratic initiative which is in progress in Turkey. We have also observed that French authorities attribute great importance to and closely watches Turkey's initiative with Armenia, which is an important development for France.

Another issue to which France attributes importance is the global energy policies, and have observed that they realize the crucial role played by Turkey in energy project and they support Turkey's position at this matter."

Bagis stated that The French people was very interested in the "Turkey Season" events in France and said that such events were very important to promote Turkey as well as to prevent false impressions about her.

Stating that over 400 events were planned within the scope of "Turkey Season," Bagis said President Abdullah Gül ws expected to attend an opening ceremony together with French President Sarkozy on October 8 within the scope of the events which would continue until April.

Indicating that they emphasized once again that Turkey aimed accession in the EU process, she was determined to conclude the negotiations like each country that has started negotiations and the objective of the negotiations was accession, Bagis stated that any other option was not acceptable.

Bagis pointed that the reforms in Turkey made Turkey and the EU come closer to each other and said "they also emphasize they support our reform process being aware that such reforms are very important not only to rise the standards of Turkey, but also to make her a more stable, more self-confident and more democratic ally of Europe. We will altogether witness that from now on they will be more cautious in preventing any attempts to lower the motivation of Turkey in that reform process."

Source: AA