Turkish PM pledges determination on EU accession process

ANKARA

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. AA Photo

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has emphasized his government’s commitment to Turkey’s EU membership bid, suggesting that all historical facts prove that Turkey is part of Europe. “Our determination on EU accession will continue,” he said late Dec. 30 in an address to the nation titled “On the Way to the New Turkey.”

Turkey is part of Europe, the prime minister said, noting that European historiography would not be complete unless Turkish archives are researched, Davutoğlu said.

“I’d like to reply to those who want us to see Turkey out of the European continent with prejudices and xenophobia. Turkey is a part of Europe, European history, the social structure of Europe and the European economy with the Customs Union,” he said.

However, the prime minister said Turkey would make its own choices with a “political structure derived from the national will.”

Turkey will not accept any instructions from anywhere while making these choices, he added.
Davutoğlu also pledged that his government would take pains while allocating resources for the 2015 budget without permitting any matter of wastage.

The budget of 2015 “will set an example in many aspects in the world,” he said.

PM: No breathing space for ‘the parallel state’

The government’s number one agenda on how to fight against the so-called “parallel structure” was also a highlight in an address to the nation by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

“No matter what happens, our greatest power is our democracy and national will. I want to state that we will not allow any kind of action, provocation or organized activity, no matter from which direction and in which form it comes, and we will fight every kind of battle required. Because, since April 23, 1920, the most fundamental maxim for the Grand National Assembly of Turkey is: sovereignty rests unconditionally with the people,” Davutoğlu said in his address titled “On the Way to a New Turkey,” which aired on several televisions late Dec. 30.

“Those who attempt to build sovereignty without having been granted legitimacy by the nation and those who plan to attempt to rule the state via establishing organizations within bureaucracy and without answering to the nation, that is to say, organizations in the form of a parallel state structure, will no longer find ground in this country and will not be able to breathe,” Davutoğlu said.