Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan was welcomed by the President of Finland Tarja Halonen at her official residence in Helsinki, TRT Russian reports.
Halonen said that Finland supports Turkish membership of the EU.
Erdogan met Finnish Parliamentary Speaker Sauli Niinisto. He also met Premier Mari Kiviniemi.
However Erdogan expressed disappointment with the state of negotiations on Turkish membership of the EU, Xinhua reports. He said that no other country had had such long negotiations to join EU. The Turkish premier noted that Turkey could be a bridge between the West and the Eastern world. Erdogan said that long negotiations will lead to expenses for both sides. Kiviniemi gave high rating to the Turkish reforms and said that Finland will support Turkey in joining the EU.
