By KUNA,
Brussels : The EU-Turkey Association Council met here Tuesday to discuss about Turkeys progress in the negotiation process for EU membership as well as regional issues like Iraq and the opening of talks between Syria and Israel under the mediation of Ankara. Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the current EU Presidency , told a press conference after the meeting that “we have commended Turkey as democratic and rule of law state,” but stressed that “it is important for Turkey that it continues with reforms.” On his part, Ali Babacan, Turkish foreign minister , told the joint news conference that his country has a single objective with respect to accession to the EU and that is full membership.
He warned that any deviation by the EU from its commitments will damage the credibility of the Union itself.
“Turkey is determined to continue on the path of reform,” Babacan stressed. Turkey began EU membership talks in 2005, but analysts say the Muslim-majority country will probably never be given full membership into the European bloc.
Rupel said the EU was closely monitoring procedures in connection with the case to ban the ruling AK Party in Turkey and expressed the hope that the decision on these issues would comply with the principles of the European Court of Human Rights .
On his part, EU Commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn; said the EU cannot be indifferent to what is happening in a EU candidate country.
“Cases to close down political parties are not business as usual in the EU, ” Rehn said. Rupel said the EU condemned all terrorist attacks on Turkish territory and welcomed the dialogue and cooperation between Turkey and Iraq to resolve the cross-border terrorism.
Commenting on the Turkish mediated talks between Syria and Israel, Babacan said “we are at the beginning of this process, it is not going to be an easy one.” He called for a strong political will from both the Syrian and Israeli side and said if meaningful and concrete developments take place it would be possible to have direct meetings between both sides.
Later the Turkish foreign minister met EU High Representative, Javier Solana, and discussed EU-Turkey ties and the opening of talks between Syria and Israel .