Minister Babacan indicated new developments would occur regarding the Cyprus issue and Article 301 of Turkish Penal Code.
He stressed the importance of the upcoming meeting in Istanbul between the Turkish government and non-governmental organizations regarding Article 301.
Diplomatic sources stated that any progress by Turkey would strengthen its position ahead the Turkey Progress Report due November 8.
Babacan stated Turkey’s objective for the EU membership process was to fulfill all requirements for negotiations by 2011. In this regard, Turkey will first implement a seven-year development plan for 2007-2013.
Babacan said: “We clearly know what will be done during the application process. If the EU does not open chapters, we will do so. Starting from 2011, we will tackle fulfilling our responsibilities, prepare accession agreements and conclusively end temporarily-closed chapters. We will stand as a candidate to become a full member in the 2014 budgetary year of the European Union. We cannot forecast whether the European Union will be ready then to approve our membership.”
Donations Turkey received from the European Union were meager, Babacan said, but it could benefit greatly from its funds.
Babacan recalled that the European Union allocated $12 billion for candidate countries in 2007-2013, adding: “If Turkey comes up with promising projects, it could get 70 percent of this amount. These projects will benefit Turkey immensely.”
Babacan said Turkey would continue cooperating with the next UN secretary-general, South Korean Ban Ki-Moon, who will take office on Jan. 1, 2007, as it did with current Secretary-General Kofi Annan to resolve the Cyprus problem.
“We will make some progress regarding the Cyprus issue,” Babacan said, adding that Ankara could take a strong initiative as it did following Annan’s Cyprus plan.
