14 September 2012Director of the European and Global Issues Secretariat at the UK's Cabinet Office, Angus Lapsey has said that United Kingdom has been supporting Turkey's accession to European Union (EU) from the beginning.
Lapsey delivered a speech on Thursday at the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) in terms of future of the union and Turkey-EU relations, in Ankara, the Turkish capital.
Lapsey stated that union countries have been facing heavy economic crisis for a while, and it would not be finished as quickly as people thought.
He said that the economic slowdown in the union not only cause an economic downturn in Britain, it also cause problems in whole union countries.
In terms of Turkey's membership to EU, Lapsey stated that his country has been supporting and will continue to support Turkey's accession.
Stating that Turkey and Britain had several relations on commercial and political issues, the two countries also tackled issues such as Syria, fighting against terrorism and Iran, Lapsey indicated.
"Our partnership is based on also EU membership issue. We have supported Turkey's membership from the beginning, and continue to do so. We are realistic about the phase in which Turkish accession process has been forward. We will continue to make case reforms in Turkey which are necessary. We will also continue to try to develop some of the problems that sometimes hold the process back. UK has always been supporting Turkey, and Turkey will be, in the end, part of European Union that will be a good thing for Turkey and will be good thing for European Union," Lapsey also said. |
