{"id":20987,"date":"2010-07-30T22:20:32","date_gmt":"2010-07-30T20:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=20987"},"modified":"2014-01-05T20:03:38","modified_gmt":"2014-01-05T18:03:38","slug":"david-cameron-backs-turkeys-eu-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2010\/07\/30\/david-cameron-backs-turkeys-eu-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"David Cameron backs Turkey\u2019s EU bid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will fight for Turkey to become a member of the European Union as he addressed business leaders in the country\u2019s capital Ankara.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/t2.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:73Py2oEQ_NJhaM:http:\/\/www.endevil.com\/images\/davidcameron1.jpg&amp;t=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"193\" height=\"261\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The PM said Turkey\u2019s economic rise was an opportunity for other EU states, not a threat, and also highlighted the nation\u2019s contribution to the NATO effort in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Cameron said he wanted to establish a new partnership between Britain and Turkey because it was \u201cvital\u201d for the UK economy, security and politics.<\/p>\n<p>The PM said:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWhen I think about what Turkey has done to defend Europe as a NATO ally, and what Turkey is doing today in Afghanistan alongside our European allies, it makes me angry that your progress towards EU Membership can be frustrated in the way that\u00a0it has been. My view is clear. I believe it\u2019s just wrong to say that Turkey can guard the camp but not be allowed to sit in the tent.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cSo I will remain your strongest possible advocate for EU membership and for greater influence at the top table of European diplomacy. This is something I feel very strongly, very passionately about. Together, I want us to pave the road from Ankara to Brussels.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Mr Cameron added that Turkey could be a \u201cunifier\u201d because of its links to both East and West and\u00a0called on the country\u2019s government to \u201cpush forward aggressively\u201d with the EU reforms it is already making to help its bid for membership.<\/p>\n<p>Later, the PM\u00a0met Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks and\u00a0signed a new Strategic Partnership document setting out how the two Governments will intensify relations in a range of areas, including trade, defence, and culture.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Listen to the\u00a0joint press conference<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Earlier, Mr Cameron laid a wreath at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern secular Turkey.<\/p>\n<p>The visit to Turkey is only\u00a0Mr Cameron\u2019s fifth bilateral overseas visit since becoming Prime Minister, following trips to France, Germany, Afghanistan and last week\u2019s visit to the US.<\/p>\n<p>Listen to the speech<\/p>\n<p>Speeches and transcripts:\u00a0<span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.number10.gov.uk\/news\/speeches-and-transcripts\/2010\/07\/pms-speech-in-turkey-53869\">PM\u2019s speech in Turkey<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Speeches and transcripts:\u00a0<span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.number10.gov.uk\/news\/speeches-and-transcripts\/2010\/07\/ress-conference-with-turkish-pm-53984\">Press conference with Turkish PM<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Prime Ministers Office<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.number10.gov.uk\/news\/latest-news\/2010\/07\/pm-backs-turkeys-eu-bid-53838\">Number 10<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will fight for Turkey to become a member of the European Union as he addressed business leaders in the country\u2019s capital Ankara. The PM said Turkey\u2019s economic rise was an opportunity for other EU states, not a threat, and also highlighted the nation\u2019s contribution to the NATO effort [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":776961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,89,94,922],"tags":[2913,985,3320],"class_list":["post-20987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eu-members","category-turkey","category-uk","category-world","tag-david-cameron","tag-eu","tag-pm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}