TURKEY MAY LEAD THE NEW RENASSIANCE IN EUROPE

Making a statement in the 68th Meeting of Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission (JPC) held in Istanbul, the Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis said: “Today’s Europe needs a new renaissance and Turkey has the knowledge, experience and wish to lead this renaissance”.  

Indicating that considering the European Union only as a flat and uniform composition sharing the same land, the same belief and the same culture was against the founding philosophy and the spirit of the EU, Bagis said:

“I regret to remind that these uniform approaches have dragged not only Turkey but also Europe into a deadlock for years. Emerging as a challenge to these uniform approaches right then, the European Union is a valuable project believing in unlimited freedoms and asserting the claim that the differences may live together in peace”.

Stating that Turkey always has the will to embrace the problems experienced by the EU and to contribute to finding solutions for them, Bagis added:

“Unfortunately, it is obvious that the EU does not often respond to Turkey’s determination in embracing its accession process and that Turkey does not get what it deserves. We expect the EU to be consistent in terms of democracy and freedoms; however, it now adopts a consistency in diverging from fair approaches”.

Bagis also said: “Although Turkey is more developed than many EU member states in various fields, it still faces double standards which have never been applied to any country throughout the history”.

Reminding that the EU accession process was a significant driving force and the government had been very determined in that respect for nine years, Bagis said: “Our aim is to furnish Turkey with the EU standards in every field and to become a country looking to the future with more confidence by covering up our deficiencies to meet the requirements of our time”.