Associated Press Worldstream
September 29, 2005 Thursday
Turkey, facing EU hurdles, may not attend accession talks
by SUZAN FRASER; Associated Press Writer
ANKARA, Turkey
Turkey will not send its delegation to Luxembourg to open EU
accession talks before officials see the document detailing the
bloc’s negotiating positions, the foreign minister said Thursday.
“No one expects us to go to Luxembourg before seeing the negotiation
framework document,” said Abdullah Gul, who is scheduled to head the
delegation.
“Of course there is a possibility that negotiations will not start,”
Gul said, but he added that “there are intense efforts” to bridge
differences.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, returning from an official visit
to the United Arab Emirates late Thursday, also downplayed tensions,
saying “I don’t think it’s a very serious problem.”
He added that if the document were given on the morning of Oct. 3,
the day negotiations are set to begin, “then on the morning of Oct.
3, we’ll continue.”
Erdogan also said, however, that the EU and Turkey had previous
agreements with respect to membership negotiations, and “it is not
possible for us to accept anything outside of these.”
Predominantly Muslim Turkey’s plans to begin negotiations for
membership in the EU, set to start on Monday, have been thrown into
disarray by the inability of European governments to come to an
agreement on how to proceed.
Austria has been pushing for a privileged partnership for Turkey
rather than full membership, saying its people and others across
Europe do not support bringing Turkey in.
Several countries have also been pushing Turkey to recognize EU
member Cyprus, and the European Parliament called on Turkey this week
to recognize the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks at the
beginning of the 20th century as genocide.
“We are facing serious difficulties for the start of negotiations,”
Gul said. “Everyone is working hard to overcome these serious
difficulties… We are engaged in intense diplomacy.”
“Everyone knows Turkey’s goals and where Turkey wants to go with
these negotiations,” he said in a reference to Turkish position that
it will not accept anything short of full membership and expects to
start negotiations without new conditions.
While taking a tough position, Gul, speaking at a hastily called
press conference, also appeared keen not to raise tensions with the
EU and told reporters that other countries that recently joined the
25-member bloc also confronted difficulties.
“Of course it is even more difficult for Turkey, because Turkey is
different,” Gul said.
“There’s a heavy agenda in front of us,” Gul said. But he added that
“we still have time to solve these problems.”