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Saturday, November 05, 2005

U.S. Aims To Strengthen Trans-Atlantic Ties To Promote Freedom

"Female voice: Turkish news agency (inaudible). Sir, I'm lucky that (inaudible) begins with (inaudible) I don't know if you have an opinion or not about Turkey so, my question's about Turkey (inaudible), you know the debate's going on in Europe whether Europe should spread its borders to Turkey, or what the European Union (inaudible) about Turkey in the next ten years, what is your prospect about it?
Assistant Secretary Daniel Fried: Well, the European Union made a decision, and the accession negotiations have begun, so the debate is no longer the operational debate it was. The European Union did its part, Turkey did its part, to fulfill the criteria sufficiently to get to this point. Now it's up to Turkey to meet the European Union standards. And I believe Turkey will succeed. I don't think this will happen overnight, I think it will take a number of years. You mentioned ten years, others have mentioned ten to fifteen years, and although I'm not a prophet, I suspect it will take something of that magnitude. And what the European Union has done, and I applaud it, is to start the process, which it had to do, but also now allow Turkey and the European Union to make progress through the negotiations, and as Turkey's reforms continue, I suspect that that fact will ease the debate in Europe. "

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