"OPPONENTS' EFFORTS TO BLOCK THE INTEGRATION WILL BE ONLY FOOTNOTES IN HISTORY"

Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis said that those who oppose Turkey's EU membership were small in number and the efforts made by those opponents to block the integration would be merely footnotes in history.

In his statement to the "Today's Zaman" newspaper, upon a question asking how US President Barack Obama's support for Turkey's EU membership bid would be perceived in EU countries, Bagis said he thanked Obama personally for this support. Bagis noted that, as Obama was leaving TGNA, he approached Obama and introduced himself and thanked him for his EU support. Bagis stated that Obama told him that his portfolio was important and wished him success.

Bagis noted that Obama was aware that Turkey's integration into the EU would be to the benefit of Turkey, EU and world peace. In response to a question as to the "privileged partnership" requests, Bagis said that he went through the whole acquis looking for this issue, however he couldn't come across any clause regarding "privileged partnership". Indicating that very recently he met with six or seven ministers from EU member states and they all welcomed US President Obama's speech, Bagis said,

"The number of opponents is small and their efforts to block Turkey's integration into Europe, an issue which is followed by 1,5 billion Muslims around the world, would be merely footnotes in history. History is on the side of Turkey."

Resource: AA