Bagis: We will have the last word on EU membership

During his visit to the United Kingdom, Turkey's U Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis spoke to accompanying journalists. Commenting on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's meeting with EU ambassadors, Bagis said, "Prime Minister would usually meet with the EU ambassadors once in six months. But new chapters have not been opened to Turkey's membership talks for one and a half years and we criticized that, and thus we did not hold such meetings. During the dinner, Prime Minister made a joke, saying that opening a new chapter will mean another dinner, but no chapters will mean no dinners. Following the shift of EU presidency from the Greek Cypriot administration to Ireland, we paid mutual visits to prompt some stimulation. We hosted the Irish Minister in Turkey. We will visit Paris next week and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is coming to Turkey on 25 February." Bagis underlined that the EU closely watched the PKK disarmament process and that achievement of peace would certainly have a positive impact on the EU's image of Turkey. Denying the allegations that Turkey's EU motivated reform process came to a halt, Bagis said, "We drafted our own progress report. Turkey did not slow down the reform process". Bagis also underlined that religious difference surely has subconscious effects, but that would not stand in Turkey's way. "We should in a convincing manner prove that our Muslim identity is an advantage. Muslims constitute 11 percent of the French population. Islam has become a reality in Europe, which has Islamophobia. None of the 11 September perpetrators were from Saudi Arabia. They had their flying trainings in Germany. Turkey, in its fight against that illness, has succeeded in ensuring the coexistence of a 250-year-old democracy and Islam. We should express that clearly", Bagis noted.