Brussels, 26/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - In a press release, Dutch Green Joost Lagendijk co-chair of the EU/Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, wanted to clarify what he had said at the meeting of the Committee on 17 and 18 June and which had been, he says, misinterpreted in certain articles in the Turkish press. In particular, he recalls that, regarding the Kurdish problem, he made a parallel with the situation in Northern Ireland, where agreement has been reached thanks to third party mediation (the United States: Ed.). Such an approach would demonstrate that "the Turkish Government is open to new ideas that could help to put a final end to the armed struggle in southeast Turkey", he said, while stipulating that he had not said that such an initiative would be a condition to meet in the context of the Copenhagen criteria. Likewise, the MEP rejects any claim that the process he is suggesting would mean "negotiating with terrorists"", as claimed by part of the Turkish press.