04/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - In the Turkish prime minister's opinion, leaving Turkey at the gates of the EU is unacceptable. On Monday 4 February, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that “keeping Turkey busy on the door of the EU is not forgivable”. “Why are you making us wait for 54 years?” he asked at a press conference with the Czech prime minister, Petr Necas. He added that Turkey is determined to relaunch the negotiations and that there are “numerous things” that must be discussed about these negotiations. The week before, Erdogan had said that his country could turn towards the Shanghai Organisation, with China and Russia. However, he stated that this organisation is not an alternative to the EU (see EUROPE 10774). “Even if the EU does not take us in, we want our cooperation to continue”, Erdogan said. “The European Union should get strength from Turkey if its wants to be a global economic and political power. Today, the EU needs Turkey, not the other way round”, Erdogan stated. (CG/transl.fl)