Turkish leaders pledged Saturday to press ahead with reforms necessary to enter the European Union (EU), casting aside their disappointment following a landmark enlargement summit.
"Turkey in the next ten years will continue to move forward with utmost determination so as to enter the European Union stronger," Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of the governing Justice and Development Party, told Anatolia news agency.
"The Turkish model is to seek out modernity within the protection of local values," Erdogan said at Ankara's airport after arriving from Copenhagen, where Turkey failed to win a firm date for the beginning of EU membership negotiations, but received a conditional offer to start talks.
During the summit, the EU said, "Turkey is a candidate state destined to join the union," however declined to set a firm date for the start of membership negotiations, as Ankara had wanted.
Instead, the EU set December 2004 as the date at which it would review Turkey's progress in necessary political and human rights reforms and only then decide if and when to set a date for accession talks. (Albawaba.com)
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