We have just made history, ... an EU based on values, not just history. Turkey has always been a European country.
I would have preferred it if the government of Turkey had not felt it necessary to issue its declaration... by doing so the process has frankly been made more difficult,
If and when Turkey does become a member, it will be after years of structural reforms and with a long track record of sustained and stable growth,
When Western Europe needed defense, along with the United States, it looked to Turkey for that defense on its eastern flank against the then-Soviet Union, ... No issues were then raised that it had an Islamic majority.
Anchor Turkey in the West and we gain a beacon of democracy and modernity - a country with a Muslim majority - which will be a shining example across the whole of its neighboring region,
The EU and the European people have always seen Turkey as a European state, ... The heavy responsibility rests on all member states. ... I don't want to contemplate the possibility of a veto.