Turkey's passage of sweeping human rights reforms has...

Turkey's passage of sweeping human rights reforms has earned it the right to begin European Union membership talks, the country's top bureaucrat for EU affairs Volkan Vural said. "This (reform) measure ensures Turkey is in the same league in terms of the political system and political requirements not only with the candidate countries but with member countries. Therefore the Turkish nation... will expect that this fact should be recognised by the members of the European Union," Vural said.