Turkey defends pace of reform before EU parliament

Turkey has made “substantial” progress in meeting the conditions for future membership of the EU, according to the country's foreign minister.
 
Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Ali Babacan said, "We have made a lot of improvements, including increased respect for religious freedoms and in the field of civil liberties.
 
"Things, of course, are not perfect and there is still a lot to do but what we have done is substantial."
 
Babacan, chief negotiator in Turkey's EU entry negotiations, said Turkey would "do its utmost" to resolve the issues which were deemed to be the main obstacles to possible EU membership.
 
"We are trying more and more to comply with the conditions for possible EU membership," he said.
 
He said full membership must remain the goal of ongoing talks between Turkey and the EU.
 
Earlier, EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn, speaking after a session with Babacan, said Turkey was responsible for the slow pace of negotiations.
 
In his parliamentary address, the minister also called for more support from the international community, including the EU, in its fight against terror organisations.
 
Uppermost in his mind, he said, was the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that is fighting for a Kurdish homeland in south-eastern Turkey.
 
He reminded the EU that both it and the US had listed the PKK on its list of terrorist organisations.
 
Babacan was addressing MEPs as part of an EU-Turkey joint parliamentary committee meeting, which concluded on Tuesday.
 
During the two-day meeting, parliament hosted members of the Turkish national assembly and addressed issues related to the customs union, future Turkish membership of the EU and intercultural dialogue.

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