Turkey's 'importance' in Mideast not harming EU bid
"The country's importance in the region is increasing desire to work with Turkey. ... I do not believe that Turkey's steps and its attitude toward the EU are contradictory to its membership process," Stefan Fule told Sabah daily.
His comments came in response to a question on whether Turkey's vote against fresh sanctions against Iran, adopted at the U.N. Security Council last week, signaled that Ankara was sliding away from the West.
Turkey defended its "no" vote as a move aimed at keeping the door open for a negotiated settlement on Iran's nuclear program under a nuclear fuel swap deal it brokered with Tehran on May 17, together with Brazil.
Fule, however, insisted the accord was "insufficient to solve the problem" mainly because "it does not contain a pledge by Tehran to resume talks on its nuclear program," according to Sabah.
Turkey's "no" vote came atop a crisis with Israel over the May 31 raid on Gaza-bound aid ships, which claimed the lives of eight Turks and one American citizen of Turkish descent, and prompted fiery anti-Israeli tirades by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accompanied with advocacy of the radical Palestinian group Hamas.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week the EU's failure to offer Turkey a swift accession process was one of the factors behind the perceived shift in Ankara's foreign policy.
Erdoğan dismissed the charges, insisting that Turkey was committed to its links in both East and West.
Ankara, however, has often expressed bitterness over the slow pace of its EU membership talks, struggling amid French and German opposition to the country's accession and the sluggish pace of reform in Ankara
14.06.2010
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