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Turkish Minister says Ireland has maturity to carry EU term presidency

Türkiye Materials 23 January 2013 08:44 (UTC +04:00)
Turkish Minister says Ireland has maturity to carry EU term presidency
Turkish Minister says Ireland has maturity to carry EU term presidency

Turkish Minister of EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagish stated that Ireland, which is holding the EU term presidency for the seventh time, has the experience, background and maturity to lead the EU Today`s Zaman reported.

Bagish was attending an informal ministerial meeting of the EU, held in Dublin on Tuesday.

"We held meetings that were important for assessing the future of the EU and discussing current issues. It was clear that the contributions of candidate countries were as important as member countries," said Bagish .

Bağış said he was in Dublin to attend a meeting that Turkey had been looking forward to taking part in since its EU accession process started.

He added that Turkey hadn't attended EU meetings in the past six months as the country did not recognize a Greek Cypriot EU term presidency.

In 2012, no new chapters were opened in the EU negotiations with Turkey. Turkey froze its relations with the European Council in reaction to the presidency of the Greek Cypriots, who took the helm of the EU in the latter half of last year.

Bagish's unofficial meeting of EU ministers bears importance for the future of the EU as well as for the discussion of the current issues.

During his Dublin visit, Bagish also met with authors and artists who organized the "İstanbul talks in Dublin" at a dinner.

Bagish said when he heard about the event "İstanbul talks in Dublin," which is scheduled to take place on Jan. 23-24, he was eager to meet with the team that organized it.

Bagish highlighted that talking about İstanbul in Dublin was very meaningful for him.

Meanwhile, Irish EU Minister Lucinda Creighton stated that Ireland was hopeful to make progress in Turkey's EU process during its EU term presidency.

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