"Recep Tayyip Erdogan: 'Taking part in the EU will bring harmony of civilisations - it is the project of the century'
The Monday Interview: Prime Minister of Turkey
By Stephen Castle in Istanbul
13 December 2004
The opening of Istanbul's new modern art museum may not seem the obvious place for Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to talk about his country's European Union ambitions, but the venue has been chosen to make a point.
Mr Erdogan, 50, leads an Islamic-rooted political party and once served a prison sentence for reciting a religious verse but this week he needs to project an image of his country similar to that of the pristine new Istanbul Modern gallery: progressive, western-leaning and, above all, European."
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