President Johannes Rau said that the European Union...

President Johannes Rau said that the European Union (EU) constituted a great perspective for Turkey, adding, "The EU is not only a markets union, first of all it is a union of values." Rau said Turkey would enter the EU when it fulfilled the necessary conditions, and stressed that conditions like human rights, democratisation, freedom of expression and thought, and abolishment of capital punishment were obligatory for EU membership.