Excerpt:
Turkish President Abdullah Gül has warned that xenophobia, racism and Islamophobia are threatening Europe's own values and advised the 27-member European Union bloc to continue with an open vision.
"It's my sincere wish that this threat will be prevented from gaining more ground that will lead the EU to turn further in on itself and to harm the universal values that it pioneers," Gül said in a statement on the occasion of 'Europe Day' on Tuesday.
He urged EU countries to free themselves of "baseless worries" about Turkey's EU negotiations and to remove "the artificial barriers" raised on its road to accession as he reaffirmed Turkey's objective of full membership.