ANTALYA, Turkey
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Turkey's foreign policy has become multidimensional and visionary.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry and EU Ministry have inaugurated branches in the southern coastal province of Antalya, where Cavusoglu delivered a speech on Sunday afternoon.
"The multidimensional foreign policy of Turkey cannot be operated only by foreign ministry," Cavusoglu said. "Therefore, we would like to increase this awareness in all of our provinces by involving them in the diplomacy, starting from the example of Antalya."
The Antalya office of the Foreign Ministry marked their fourth domestic one, along with Istanbul, Izmir and Edirne offices.
Cavusoglu also highlighted the number of foreign diplomatic missions in Turkey has been boosted from 166 in 2002 to 254 currently.
"This shows the interest to our effective foreign policy," he said. "Istanbul is the second city in the world who has the most foreign offices and Antalya is an important city of Turkey with its natural beauty, non-governmental organizations and services it provides to its people."
The EU Ministry's Antalya branch has been inaugurated as well, with EU Minister Volkan Bozkir also addressing the public.
"The inauguration of our Antalya office will contribute to the development of the civil society, which is the best indicator of democracy," Bozkir said.
Bozkir also stressed that Turkey have opened all the EU accessions negotiation chapters for its side and said the country will close all the chapters within two years.
"Opening chapters is not a problem for us; it is the EU's problem," Bozkir said. "We will be glad if they open the chapters. We have been maintaining the accession process for eight years because it is beneficial for our people."
According to the statement on the EU Ministry's official website, Antalya Office will serve to ensure harmonization with the EU acquis at the local level, guide the effective implementation of necessary legislation and the preparation of projects that can evaluate the historical, cultural and geographical wealth of Antalya in terms of the EU accession perspective, and to benefit from the opportunities the EU accession process provides at the local level.
"Antalya is a trademark for Turkish tourism and is also becoming a trademark for the effective and successful utilization of the EU financial assistance. Within this scope, nearly 43 billion Euros has been allocated to 767 projects that were held in Antalya between 2012-2014," the statement said.
Antalya, a popular tourist resort, has consistently ranked among the most widely visited cities in the world over the last years, and has been the driving force for tourism in Turkey.
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