Turkish Minister of EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis stated Wednesday that Turkey would open a new chapter on regional policies after 3 years on June 26.
Speaking in candidate city's presentations for EXPO 2020, Bagis stated that opening the 23rd and 24th chapters of candidate countries was high on agenda during his meeting with new French Minister of EU Affairs Thierry Repentin.
"On June 26, we will be in Brussels with our Minister of Development Cevdet Yilmaz. Turkey will open a new chapter after 3 years on regional policies," Bagis said.
Stating also on the protests at Istanbul's Taksim Square, Bagis noted, "Turkey is a democratic, secular, social state of law. In each democratic country, some acts can occur [...] Incidents, occuring now in Turkey are not different from those happening in Paris, Berlin or Brussels."
Bagis emphasized that Turkey had paid off its debt to IMF, reached a different level in fighting terrorism and its economy started to develop. He added, "Total cost of the third airport (in Istanbul) and new nuclear power plant is more than the gross national product of Turkey in 1985. For the first time Turkey became indebted with a decrease of 4.7%. For the first time, unemployment rates declined to 8.8 percent. Turkey grows in each level what some wanted to stop. However, we won't play into the hands of those provokers. Nobody will be strong enough to scale down Turkey. It's none of anybody's business."
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