Agence France Presse
Dec 15 2004

Powell, Gul discuss Turkey’s EU accession

WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke
Wednesday with his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, on Turkey’s EU
accession, which could benefit from strong US backing.

“The secretary spoke this morning with foreign minister Gul, just to,
kind of, check in and see where things are,” State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher said.

“I think foreign minister Gul is already in Brussels working with the
European Union there. And we’ll continue to keep in touch with
Turkish leaders on the subject,” he told reporters.

The European Union is waiting to give its approval to Turkey’s
negotiated accession during a summit to open late Thursday in
Brussels.

In Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, no stranger
to hard bargaining, stood firm on the eve of the Brussels summit.

“We do not expect any unacceptable conditions to be put before us,
but if such conditions are imposed … we will definitely put the
matter in the refrigerator and continue on our way,” he said before
heading for Brussels.

Ankara notably wants the EU talks to start in the first half of 2005,
as opposed to later next year as sought by some EU states. It has
also dismissed an offer of a “privileged partnership” as an
alternative to full EU entry.

Turkey has also repeatedly rejected calls to give formal recognition
to the government in Cyprus.

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkish
troops occupied the northern third of the island in response to a
coup engineered by the then-ruling military junta in Athens to unite
the country with Greece.

Only the Greek-Cypriot south has been able to enjoy the benefits of
EU membership since the island joined the bloc on May 1, after Greek
Cypriots rejected a UN blueprint to reunify Cyprus.

In Brussels the EU has sought to maintain pressure on Ankara to
recognize Cyprus — by signing a formal EU diplomatic agreement which
amounts to a de facto recognition.

“Otherwise we will have a problem with Cyprus, that’s absolutely
clear,” said an EU presidency source.

Although Washington has long favored Turkey’s entry into the European
Union, Boucher did not offer to take a position on how that would
happen, saying that the two sides would have to work out the details.

When asked if recognition of a “genocide” of Armenians in 1915 by
Turkey should be an EU demand for entry, he said, “As the secretary
said about four times last week: All these matters are matters for
the Europeans to decide.

“We believe that Turkey has gone a long way in meeting the
requirements of membership and the requests that were asked of
Turkey, and it will be for the Europeans to make that judgment
themselves.”