The event, organised by the Institute for International Relations and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, was dedicated to the challenges Turkey and Croatia will encounter during membership talks and the importance of that process for Croatia.
The head of the Institute for International Relations, Mladen Stanicic, said the talks with the two countries would be conducted differently due to their unique characteristics, but that similar strategic positions would be taken into account - Croatia as a factor of stability in Southeast Europe and Turkey as bridge between western liberalism and secularism and the Islamic world.
The head of the European Commission Delegation in Zagreb, Vincent Degert, reiterated that the EU was not en exclusive club, especially not Christian, but a community of countries based on common values stated in Article 6 of the European Charter.
Murat Bilhan of the Turkish Foreign Ministry agreed with this statement, adding that secularism was the basis of the common European identity. He supported efforts to overcome bias and stereotypes about Turkey, adding that the historical, cultural, religious and geographic identities of individual countries must not be used as a pretext for their non-admission to the EU.