THE WINNER WILL BE TURKEY, NOT ANY POLITICAL PARTY

Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis and his spouse Beyhan N. Bagis hosted an Iftar dinner for the Ambassadors, Bureaucrats and the staff of the Secretariat General for EU Affairs.

Delivering a speech at the Iftar held in Ankara Bilkent Hotel, Bagis indicated that Turkey's efforts in the constitutional amendment and referendum process would have positive results. Bagis said: "This is the most prosperous age in Turkey's history."

Indicating that there was a new process before Turkey now, Bagis stated that many countries which acceded to the EU recently had civilised their constitutions during their accession negotiation processes.

Bagis said: "On 12 September, when we go to the ballot box we won't make a political choice. We will make a choice to have a new constitution in compliance with the EU criteria and a democracy at global standards. Whatever the result will be, not any one party will win or lose but Turkey will win with ‘Yes' votes."

Stating that there were two important 12 Septembers in Turkish history, one of which was the date when Ankara Agreement was signed by Ismet Inonu as an indicator of the decisiveness of the state towards democratisation, transparency and integration with the West, and the second one was the date of the military coup in 1980, Bagis said on 12 September 2010 Turkey would make a choice between those two 12 Septembers of the past.

After the Iftar, a Hacivat-Karagöz comedy play on the EU reforms was performed for the guests.

Source: AA