In Brussels, Erdogan reiterates commitment for Turkey's EU bid

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday attended a conference on Turkish-European Union relations at the European Policy Center in Brussels as a guest of EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. At the conference, Erdogan devoted most of his speech to developments in Gaza. Erdogan said that Hamas came to power in Palestine through elections and asked all parties to respect this outcome, warning that failing to do so would hurt democracy. "The elections were not held to please (then Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas," he said. Erdogan also reiterated Turkey's commitment to its EU reform process, saying that this year will see a leap forward in Turkish-EU relations. He added, "The opposition in Turkey is completely against the EU, and for this reason they always stall us." Touching on relations with Iran, he said that Ankara has neighborly and strategic ties with Tehran and that it is out of the question to break these off.