Bagis replies to a parliamentary question

In reply to a parliamentary question asked by Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Umut Oran, EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis stated that the preparatory conducted by them showed that Turkey was now capable of opening 15 chapters to membership talks in 18 months, including all bureaucratic processes to be carried out by the European Council and Commission, provided that political blockages are removed. Bagis said that 33 chapters which were subject to negotiations should be firstly opened so that they could be closed, adding, "But 13 chapters have been opened to membership talks until now. The remaining 17 out of 20 chapters could not be opened now due to political blockages." Bagis stated that France has blocked five chapters on the grounds that they are related to full membership and that the Greek Cypriot administration did the same with regard to six chapters by stipulating normalization in relations.