Brussels, 13/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - Greece supports Turkey's European prospects and welcomes the European Commission's recommendation for opening accession negotiations with Ankara, according to a statement by the Greek minister of foreign affairs, Petros Molyviatis at the General Affairs Council on Monday. The title of the report from the Council discussion (EUROPE 12 October, p^. 4) may have suggested that Greece had doubts about opening negotiations with Turkey, which is not in fact the case, as the text in the same article makes clear. The Greek minister, however, pointed out on Monday at the Council that the Commission had defined a series of measures that Turkey had to take during negotiations on an internal level: human rights, respect for minorities and religious freedom, clarification of political and military relations; and on the external level: improving relations with neighbouring countries. Mr Molyviatis said that, "We hope that Turkey will take all these steps and conform to all the criteria and obligations during the negotiations, for as long as they last. If she can achieve this, we believe that she, also, will then have the right to become a full member of the EU".