Gul: "Turkey is determinedly making progress on its path towards EU accession"

Turkey is determinedly following its path towards full European Union membership, President Abdullah Gul told a televised interview yesterday. "Turkey is proceeding with its road towards the EU accession not in haste but in a determined way. There is more hope for 2010," he said. Touching on Cyprus, Gul complained of what he called some EU members' abuse of the issue to block Turkey's EU accession negotiations. "Turkey will first do what it has to and will complete all negotiation chapters and adopt all required laws as part of its EU reforms," he said. On Turkey's efforts to improve bilateral cooperation with neighboring and regional countries, Gul called this initiative constructive for not only the region but also the world. Gul said Turkey's relations with the US are based on mutual respect, adding that Turkey is also boosting its relations with Russia and countries in the Middle East and elsewhere. Citing terrorism as one of the most pressing issues facing the region and the world, Gul said developments in Iraq and Syria , the US withdrawal from Iraq , and the EU's clear stance on terrorism are putting pressure on regional terrorism. On Turkey 's non-Muslim citizens, Gul said that he would never want them to face problems or feel themselves strangers in their own land. "Thus, we're making efforts to solve their problems," Gul said. He said everyone should be hopeful about Turkish-Armenian relations normalizing in the first quarter of 2010, but added he couldn't say anything definite because the issues are sensitive. "It is important to turn this region and the entire Caucasus into a region of stability and peace and a geography of cooperation," he said. Gul said Ankara's vision is to turn the entire region into a stable one, and Turkey is helping countries to solve their own problems. In related news, Gul yesterday received Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, who was in Turkey to attend the official inauguration of Year of Japan in Turkey activities marking the 120th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. During the meeting at the Cankaya Presidential Palace in Ankara, Gul expressed Turkey's firm support for the National Compromise and Rehabilitation Project initiated by Japan to return Taliban militants to Afghan society. Okada later met with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu and the two discussed regional and global issues such as Iraq, the Middle East, Iran's controversial nuclear program, and North Korea. Okada yesterday also addressed Turkish ambassadors from all over the world, gathered in Ankara to discuss the future of Turkish foreign policy along with recent regional and global developments.