Mr. Rubi Acikgoz:

First, I thank the committee very much for hosting us. We have been enjoying Irish hospitality and I thank the Chairman and committee members for allocating time to meet us. As the Chairman mentioned, we have been organising visits to enhance relations between Turkish and European parliamentarians and within the scope of these visits, we enjoyed his visit to Turkey. We are glad he has a positive impression from that visit and that he has mentioned that today. I thank him for that.

Turkey and Ireland have been close friends for a long time. There is positive public opinion towards the Irish in Turkey. We believe that the Irish are straightforward and trustworthy. In addition, we have witnessed positive developments during Ireland's EU Presidency. The talks about the opening chapters took place during this period.