Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Accession to the EU is a strategic choice of Turkey, Egemen Bagis, Turkey 's former minister for EU affairs told Trend.
He said that the EU is a center of the democratic values and the supremacy of human rights for Turkey.
" Turkey 's EU membership doesn't mean that it will refuse from or change its policy in the region," Bagis said.
The official negotiations on Turkey 's accession to the EU were resumed in 2005.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc earlier said that if previously 75 percent of Turkey 's population supported the country's accession to the EU, currently, this figure has dropped to 20 percent.
Turkey has fulfilled 65 percent of its commitments to the EU for accession to this organization.
Earlier, the country's Minister for EU Affairs Volkan Bozkir said the negotiations between Turkey and EU can't continue in the format required by the organization. He said at the time that democracy in Turkey is at a higher level than in some European countries.
Edited by CN
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