Erdogan: EU-imposed conditions are lame excuses

Erdogan: EU-imposed conditions are lame excuses
30.01.2010 15:55 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the current negotiation process, the European
Union demonstrates an unusual attitude to Turkey, according to Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

`Turkey started its EU membership process in 1954. Back in 1963, it
submitted an official application,’ he told a joint news conference
with his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov.

`Over the course of the entire process which lasts about 50 years
Turkey has been looking forward for a response. At the time of
submitting the application, EU had 15 member states, today their
number is 27. And this may last till the moment when Turkey gets a
negative response. Thereafter, we’ll find a way out ourselves,’
Erdogan said.

Asked whether the Turkish state intends to provide a $ 10-12 billion
material compensation to the Bulgarians dismissed from the country Mr.
Erdogan said the lawsuit over Bulgarians’ claim was in process.

`Ankara will follow the court’s verdict,’ Turkish Premier said,
Haberler reported.

Turkey-EU: Turkey began full membership negotiations with the European
Union in 2005, having been an associate member of the EEC since 1963,
and having reached a customs union agreement in 1995.
The country has also been an associate member of the Western European
Union since 1992, and is a part of the "Western Europe" branch of the
Western European and Others Group (WEOG) at the United Nations. The
country’s EU process which started on 3 October 2005 is likely to take
at least a decade to complete. The membership bid has become a major
controversy of the ongoing enlargement of the European Union.