PREMIER OF TURKEY VISITING FRANCE
The Turkish Prime Minister will meet with his French counterpart Jean-Pierre Raffarin and with Turkish citizens living in France on the first day of visit, Mr. Erdogan will attend a conference on July 20 where he will deliver a speech named Turkey -France: New Perspective for Effective Partnership. The Turkish Prime Minister is to meet the French President Jacques Chirac on same day and ask for support for Turkey's EU membership bid.
Mr. Rejep Tayyip Erdogan will carry out talks with French political party leaders on 21 July 21. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan is expected to have other meetings.
The bilateral relations, Turkey-EU relations and international developments including the latest developments in Cyprus, Middle East, Iraq, Northern Africa Project and Afghanistan will be taken up in the official government meetings. Turkey is hoping to open entry talks with the European Union (EU) by the end of 2004, and has adopted a series of EU harmonization packages, including political and economic criteria, to meet membership requirements. The Turkish Parliament has adopted seven EU harmonization packages in the last two years, and has also abolished capital punishment in order to comply with EU standards.
EU leaders are due to meet in December to decide whether Turkey, a candidate country since 1999, has made enough progress on human rights and political freedoms for the initiation of the long-delayed accession talks.
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