Erdogan flies to Madrid for second Turkey-Spain summit

Accompanied by a number of Cabinet ministers, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan left for Spain over the weekend to attend the second Turkey-Spain summit in Madrid. Accompanying Erdogan are Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, State Minister responsible for the Alliance of Civilizations initiative Mehmet Aydin, Chief Negotiator for European Union talks Egemen Bagis, Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim, and Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz. Speaking to reporters before leaving, Erdogan expressed determination to make a major overhaul of the country's judicial system in line with EU requirements, asking opposition parties to cooperate with the government to swiftly carry out a comprehensive judicial reform. Stressing that the government would soon bring a draft judicial reform package to Parliament, Erdogan said they could take the package to a referendum if Parliament fails to reach an agreement. Stating that he would exchange views on Turkey's EU accession process with top Spanish officials during his visit, Erdogan said, "We're going to convey our expectation to EU Term President Spain on Turkey's accession talks." Erdogan also said Turkey expects several chapters in Turkey's EU accession talks which were unfairly blocked due to political reasons to be opened under Spain's presidency,