The Prime Minister of Turkey, Mr Bulent Ecevit, visiting Belgium for talks on Turkey's NATO involvement and with EEC officials, has called for deeper co-operation between his country and the European Common Market. Mr Ecevit was speaking to newsmen after a lunchtime meeting on Thursday (25 May) with the President of the European Economic Community's Executive Commission, Mr Roy Jenkins.

SYNOPSIS: Mr Ecevit was making a brief visit to Brussels before flying to the United States at the weekend to chair NATO summit meeting. Mr Ecevit hopes, in Washington, to meet the Greek Prime Minister Mr Constantine Karamanlis to discuss the disputes between them.

The question of Turkish-Greek relations formed the background to Mr Ecevit's talks with Mr Jenkins. Turkey is concerned about the effect on its economy and its future links with the EEC in the light of the Greek application for membership. After their meeting, Mr Ecevit said he had explained Turkey's present acute economic state and that it was wrong to try and dissociate short term problems from longer term ones.

In a lunchtime speech, Mr Jenkins said the Community could apply more flexibly the 1963 trade agreement with Turkey. He suggested a start be made on selecting projects which could be financed by some 450 million dollars earmarked for Turkey by the Common Market.