Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The European Commission has welcomed Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's remarks which reaffirmed Turkey's commitment to its European Union membership bid.

"We are pleased to hear Erdogan's statement that Turkey continues to remain committed to its membership goal," Peter Stano, the spokesperson for EU's top enlargement official, said on Thursday, Anadolu news agency reported.

Stano said the European Commission attached great importance to the revival of accession talks, which have been stalled due to the Cyprus issue and opposition by certain EU members, adding that the commission would continue to support 'the positive agenda" which was launched last May to add a fresh momentum to the membership process.

"Turkey's active support to the positive agenda and the European perspective remains crucial," Stano said.

During a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Wednesday, Erdogan said the EU would lose Turkey if the country was not accepted to the Union as a full-fledged member by 2023, when Turkey will celebrate the centennial anniversary of the founding of the modern republic. Because by then Turkey might lose interest in becoming an EU member.

Erdogan's visit to Germany came amid a stalemate in Turkey's EU membership process.

Erdogan thanked Merkel for her support in the opening of accession talks with Turkey during her country's term as EU president and appeared to blame France, rather than Germany, for the stalemate in the talks.

"Germany, under both Christian Democrat and Social Democrat governments, has always supported Turkey," he said, complaining, however, that the French administration after former President Jacques Chirac took up "a very negative attitude" towards Turkey, Turkish newspaper Todays Zaman reported on Wednesday.

In remarks late on Tuesday, Erdogan indirectly criticized Merkel for the exclusion of Turkey from EU summits in recent years. He said Turkish leaders used to be invited to EU summits even before Turkey began its accession talks, when Gerhard Schroeder and Chirac were the leaders of Germany and France.

Merkel said Germany remains committed to Turkey's membership but says the process should be "open-ended," meaning that it cannot be guaranteed that the process will result in full membership.

"The EU is an honest negotiating partner," Merkel said.

"The question of full membership for Turkey is seen within my party in a certain way... We [Germany and Turkey] have learned to live with this difference and still to have good relations," she added.

Germany is Turkey's largest trade partner in the 27-nation EU and is also home to some three million Turks, the largest Turkish diaspora in Europe.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, known to have a more favorable view of Turkish accession than Merkel, called for a fresh effort to revive the stalled accession process.

Speaking at a ceremony for the opening of Turkey's new embassy in Berlin on Tuesday evening, Westerwelle said it is in the interests of both the EU and Turkey to give the talks a new push in 2013.

Turkey applied to join the bloc in 1987, and it was granted candidate status in 1999.

However, accession negotiations, launched in 2005, have all but ground to a halt due to an intractable dispute over the divided island of Cyprus, whose southern part is an EU member, and opposition from core EU members France and Germany.

In its accession talks, Turkey has so far provisionally completed one of the 35 EU policy chapters, which all EU candidate countries are required to conclude for membership.

Citing political reasons, Greek Cypriot administration and France have blocked nearly ten chapters in Turkey's talks.

Cyprus dispute

Erdogan said on Wednesday during the press conference with Merkel that letting Cyprus in the European Union was "a mistake."

He also complained about EU policy on the Cyprus problem and said Merkel had told him in the past she also believed it had been a mistake to admit a divided Cyprus.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops landed and occupied its northern part in response to an Athens-engineered coup in the capital, Nicosia, aimed at union with Greece.

"This has been a serious mistake and this mistake continues increasingly. We hope these things don't happen. Turkey should reach a result in its 50-year EU process, because no other country has received such treatment. We have to overcome this," he said.

The Greek Cypriot government, recognized by the EU as representative of the entire island, is currently blocking further progress in Ankara's membership process. Turkey, which does not recognize Greek Cyprus, suspended dialogue with the EU presidency after the rotating post was taken over by the Greek Cypriots in July.

"The EU talks of a state called Cyprus. There is no country called Cyprus. There is the Greek Cypriot administration and there is Turkish Cyprus. There is a green line that divides them. But EU members do not see that green line," Erdogan added.

However, Greek Cyprus has strongly criticized remarks made by the Turkish PM in Germany on Wednesday in which he also said Turkey is pursuing a policy of peace and cooperation in the region.

Spokesman for the ruling Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL), George Loucaides, said Erdogan's remarks are "provocative and unacceptable," accusing Erdogan of "aiming to reverse the realities."

Loucaides accused Turkey of being the only culprit over the stalemate of Turkey's EU membership bid and said Ankara does not comply with decisions made by the European Council and rejects recognizing an EU member state, referring to Greek Cyprus.

Loucaides described Turkey's presence in northern Cyprus as an "occupation" and claimed that Turkey's intransigent role in Cyprus talks created the current deadlock over the problem.

TL-zone as alternative to Eurozone

Turkey plans to create a Turkish lira-zone as an alternative to the Eurozone, Prime Minister Erdogan said during his official visit to Germany, Sabah newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Speaking at a conference titled "Europe Beyond the Crisis" in Berlin on Tuesday, Erdogan noted that his government had been cautioned by British officials, whose country does not use the euro despite being a member of the EU, against switching to the common currency when Turkey's membership to the union materializes.

"Great Britain has not joined the Eurozone and the country's economy is quite stable," Erdogan said.

"British authorities advised us not to join the Eurozone, but create a Turkish lira-zone," he added.

Erdogan said that Turkey has been thinking about this issue for a long time. He added that the EU should reconsider its monetary policy.

The EU has 27 members but only 17 of them use the euro as their currency.

Erdogan said that a number of EU countries have not joined the Eurozone but have not suffered as a result.