Brussels, 25/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - The main opposition political party in Turkey, the People's Republican Party (CHP, secular) founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923, supports the strategy and the efforts deployed by the current government under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (AKP) to make Turkey a member of the European Union. Speaking to the press in Brussels on 25 September, on the occasion of the opening of a liaison office with the EU, CHP deputy leader Onur Oymen stressed that his party had “nearly always” supported the government in place since 2002 whenever it was a matter of voting through the legislative reforms needed to prepare the country for EU membership. On the other hand, Mr Oymen warned against gradual erosion of secularism in Turkey's political system since the AKP's arrival to power. He also denounced “serious violation” of freedom of the press in his country. (H.B./transl.jl)