11th. German-Turkish Cooperation Council Meeting starts

The 11th German-Turkish Cooperation Council meeting has started under the chairmenship of Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ali Tuygan and German Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Klaus Scharioth in Berlin on Thursday.Speaking at the meeting, Tuygan said, ''we want Germany to pursue its support to Turkey's EU bid. Turkey-EU relations have entered a new period. We know that EU membership talks will be tough, but we have the will to complete the talks positively. Our German friends should know that we will not accept any results except EU full membership.''''Many German tourists who visit Turkey and nearly 50,000 German citizens who settled in Turkey contribute to development of relations between our two countries,'' he added.Tuygan said, ''German-Turkish Cooperation Council is a very good platform for development of economic relations. We believe that we will pursue more successful activities with the new study group especially in tourism area. Germany has always been one of the important commercial partners of Turkey. Trade volume between our two countries reached 21 billion USD.''Tuygan said, ''we wish that German investments in Turkey would increase. We trust businessmen for development of economic relations.''Meanwhile, Scharioth said, ''EU's decision to start entry talks with Turkey is a historical one which has a strategical importance. Germany exerted great efforts for Turkey's EU membership.''''Talks will be difficult and it may end negatively. There are still many things to be done in Turkey, however, Turkey showed that it is determined to pursue reforms. We will continue to support and encourage Turkey,'' added Scharioth.Scharioth said, ''besides settlement of stability and fight against terrorism, Turkey's economic importance should not be forgotten as well. Germany is the best commercial partner of Turkey. Nearly 1200 German companies are operating in Turkey today.'' Â