Turkey and Turks are part of Europe and Turkey’s full EU membership objective has not changed despite an unfair block on negotiations, Turkish Prime Minister Reccep Tayyip Erdogan said.
“Turkey’s history can not be written without Europe’s, and Europe’s history can not be written without Turkey’s,” Erdogan told “Paris Match” magazine in an exclusive interview published on Wednesday ahead of his visit to France on Friday and his meeting with French President Francois Hollande.
"Turkey wants a nuclear weapons free Middle East. This includes all countries of the region,” Erdogan said, implying Israel, the only country in the Middle East which is believed to possess nuclear weapons.
“However, we do not have any objection to the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,” Erdogan said. “This is a natural right for every country”.
Erdogan said that European Union is an important power in terms of values such as the rule of law, democracy and human rights. “Turkey is a country that shares and adopts these values,” he said.
Turkey started EU membership negotiations in 2005 but since then little progress has been made.
Erdogan said that the unfair block on some chapters have upset them and discouraged Turks. “But this has not created any change in our full EU membership objective”.
Some European politicians are using religion as an argument to object Turkey’s EU membership, Erdogan said, adding that this is in inconsistency with European values.
Erdogan said that after crisis that lasted for years in relations between Turkey and France during Sarkozy’s presidency, a new page is being opened with Francois Hollande.
Erdogan left Turkey for Austria on Thursday to attend the 10th anniversary of the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD) in Vienna.
www.aa.com.tr/en
