EP president Buzek addresses Turkish parliament

European Parliament (EP) President Jerzy Buzek yesterday addressed the Parliament's plenary session, saying "I am honoured to speak in this chamber, a monument to Turkey's strong democratic traditions, reformist and progressive politics and to the amazing achievements in recent decades." Buzek added that Turkey should be proud of its economy, because it has tripled in size in the last decade. He also praised the implementation of greatly important social reforms and the development of health services in a way to cover the entire country. As for the Cyprus issue, Buzek said, "In this respect, it is indispensable that all parties do their utmost to ensure a positive climate that will facilitate a successful completion of the talks. I therefore don't want to speculate on anything else than a settlement before the Cypriot Presidency of the EU in July 2012 and I believe that this is possible given that good progress was achieved since 2008.I trust that Turkey, like the EU, will continue to give its total support in this final phase of the talks."