FINLAND FOR LAUNCHING EU-TURKEY TALKS

PanARMENIAN.Net - «If Turkey fulfills all preconditions for starting the talks, the EU should launch these, though the final decision should be made by the European Commission,» Finnish President Tarja Halonen stated. «Finland has expressed its support to EU enlargement. Turkey has expressed desire to join the EU before Finland, however, Finland has already been part of the EU for 10 years. Thus, the EU-Turkey relations have a long history,» she said. Answering a question on the introduction of the issue of opening the Armenian-Turkish border to the talks agenda and establishment of diplomatic relations, the Finnish President said, «I would not like to speak of subjects that may appear during the talks in detail. However, we usually expect the candidate states to comply with the Copenhagen criteria. At the same time Turkey has to recognize all EU member states. Finally, we hope the candidate countries will have good neighborly relations with all adjacent countries. We tell all candidates about it, however there are two parties in this case: neighborhood always provides for relations between the two countries,» reported Mediamax. It should be noted that September 26-28 Tarja Halonen will pay an official visit to Armenia.