Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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The delegation is more than welcome. As has already been said a very tightly knit bond exists between Turkey and Ireland. On average 115,000 tourists go from Ireland to Turkey every year, which indicates a great bond and relationship, and fondness for Turkish people.

Let us get down to the nitty gritty. Turkey is a huge country. As my colleague has said, we would be very keen to see Turkey as equal partners with the 28 European Union member states. Turkey and Ukraine are two very important and strategically placed countries. Turkey is emerging more and more as a regional power broker.

I congratulate the Turkish Government on a number of initiatives it has taken. Its Minister for Foreign Affairs seems to be very much in charge of foreign affairs for Turkey and I congratulate some of the decisions he has taken on behalf of the Turkish people. With the backdrop of euroscepticism and the growth of extreme right-wing anti-immigration parties there may be an inherent fear, distrust or lack of knowledge of what Turkey represents. Does it represent a secular society or a Muslim society? Given the ousting of the democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, I know Turkey has a keen interest in developments in the region and has been very progressive on many of the issues. How would the delegates reassure Europe and in the development of Turkey's application for membership, regarding the horrors of what we are witnessing vis-à-vis Boko Haram, al-Qaeda or other fanatical religious groups in the world? Can the witnesses put our minds at rest that Turkey is capable of accommodating the secularist concepts of Atatürk as against the military in Egypt which moved against the Muslim Brotherhood, which was democratically elected?

The witnesses should recognise there are difficulties regarding the issue of Cyprus. I understand some of the chapters are stalled because of the need to negotiate some deals on the use of ports, exports from Cyprus and the question of Famagusta, which we frequently mention. Can substantial progress be made in that relationship?

I congratulate the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs who deals with conflict resolution. We are very good at conflict resolution issues here. Maybe we can learn a lot from each other given the terrorism campaign in Northern Ireland and I understand Turkey has difficulties with its electorate in reabsorbing into the mainstream of Turkish society those members of the PKK who had been engaged in terrorist activities there.

It is a broad range of issues. I hope that the eight negotiating chapters on which the ad-hoc committee is working ultimately prove to be positive.