Turkey wants to transfer peace, stability and confidence to its region

ANKARA (A.A) – Turkey's EU Minister Egemen Bagis said that Turkey wanted to transfer peace, stability and confidence to its region. We believe we can fulfill this better with the EU, added Bagis who spoke at HardTalk show at BBC World. Turkey is determined to be a part of the EU which is the biggest peace project of human history, said Bagis, adding that however, Europe was not able to see the light before itself as it was very busy with its own problems. Noting that Turkey was a source of inspiration for Arab Spring, Bagis said that people in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia wanted democracy, human rights, non-governmental organizations, labor organizations and free market like in Turkey. Bagis said that the situation in Syria would certainly change too. All countries in the United Nations should exert joint efforts, said Bagis, adding that every step regarding Syria issue should be taken in international platform, adding that Turkey was against unilateral steps. Bagis said that more than 20,000 Syrians took shelter in Turkey so far, adding that currently over 8,000 Syrians were living in tent sites in Hatay city and receiving food, education and health services. Regarding Turkish-EU relations, Bagis said that Turkey would ignore Greek Cypriot administration when it undertook the EU rotating presidency in July, adding that Turkey would pursue its relations with the EU Commission. Our relations with European Parliament and member states will continue, but we cannot accept a country –-which we don't recognize-- to lead the whole Union, said Bagis. In 2004, EU members unanimously decided to end isolations on Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) but they did not fulfill this decision, said Bagis, adding that Turkey would open its ports to Greek Cypriot traffic when the EU fulfilled its promise.