DUBLIN
Ireland will take over the EU Presidency from the Greek Cypriot administration on January 1st for six months.
Lucinda Creighton said, "I think that we will have a unique opportunity, during the Irish presidency to inject some momentum into the accession process. As you know, a range of chapters have been frozen for the past number of years but, we are very confident that during the Irish presidency we can open at least one chapter and get I suppose the negotiation process underway once again."
Upon being reminded about the Turkish economy being better than many EU countries, Creighton said, "Already our economies are intertwined and I think that inevitably it is the interest of Europe and of Turkey to have a more deeply integrated economic cooperation. Obviously, as I've said the EU is going through a difficult period at this point in time. On the bright side of that, we are dramatically restructuring all Euro zone countries, particularly all member states of the EU are becoming more competitive, bringing down the cost of labour and just becoming more flexible and more open. So I'm very optimistic about the prospects of the European growth, in the years ahead."
Creighton also said that Turkey's EU accession will not take place in the short or medium term but it is a long term process and added, "yes, we have concerns about economic challenges but also in terms of human rights issues, freedom of press, grave concerns about the Kurdish minority and these are issues that of course we hope and we expect Turkish government to deal with. I think its fair to say that, the best way to achieve progress, to build on the human rights record of Turkey is through engagement."
She also said that Ireland did not see Cyprus as an obstacle facing Turkey's EU accession and considered the Cyprus issue of recognition to be resolved by the UN and not the EU.
Turkey's Dublin Ambassador Ahmet Altay Cengizer commented on opening new chapters in the negotiation process and said, "Ireland wants to break the 2.5 years of stagnancy of the Turkey-EU accession during their presidency. The intellectuals in Europe are aware of the injustice made to Turkey."
Cengizer also stated that during their presidency, Ireland had to move with more confidence and shouldn't step back in the first hardship they face and said, "Although Ireland sees itself as a small country, this is not true because there are 80 million Irish in the world and 17 of the US presidents were Irish."
Reporting by Asli Aral and Yunus Kaymaz
