Turkish Leader Demands Full EU Membership

By BENJAMIN HARVEY, Associated Press Writer

Sun Oct 2, 2:44 AM ET

Turkey’s prime minister said Saturday the mostly Muslim nation will only
accept full membership in the European Union, warning Austria’s ambassador
to drop talk about an associate partnership in the group.

The EU foreign ministers meet Sunday in Luxembourg to discuss Austria’s
insistence that Turkey be offered something less than full membership in the
25-nation EU, calling into question whether the bloc will open accession
talks with the mostly Muslim nation on Monday, also in Luxembourg.

Austria has claimed to be speaking in the name of the majority of Europeans
in saying it does not want Turkey as a full member.

But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Austria its proposal
was not an option, Turkish media said.

Increasing diplomatic pressure, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul also urged
European leaders to keep their promises and open talks next week on Turkey
joining the union, warning that the country will accept no new conditions.

“If the European Union decides not to keep its word, if its own leaders
decide to forget their signatures beneath the decisions they’ve made before
the ink has even dried … if they decide to ignore all this and impose new
conditions that Turkey will never accept … then of course in that case
this kind of partnership can never be,” Gul said told Parliament at its
opening session.

CNN-Turk showed footage of Prime Minister Erdogan confronting the Austrian
ambassador at a a Saturday night reception to celebrate the opening of a new
parliamentary session, telling him “If you continue to play politics like
this, you’ll fail in the next election.”

After more than 40 years of aspiring to join the European Union, Turkey
feels it is being held hostage on the eve of negotiations by Austrian
leaders using Turkey’s EU bid as an issue in upcoming national elections.

Erdogan told Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel and Austrian President
Heinz Fischer in telephone calls that the idea of a privileged partnership
with the EU was a nonstarter, CNN-Turk and the semiofficial Anatolia news
agency said.

Justice Minister Cemil Cicek also urged the EU to keep its promises.

“Human rights and freedoms are very important modern values,” he said. “But
keeping one’s word is also a modern value.”

A poll by A&G Research of 1,834 people in 19 provinces showed the majority
of Turkish people remain supportive of the EU bid, with 57.4 percent
agreeing with the statement, “Turkey must join” the EU. The poll, which was
taken Sept. 24-29, had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc said Turkey was taking note of Europe’s
actions, and that the country would continue to progress on its own terms if
Europe decided not to deal with Turkey.

“We are taking as a warning the political maneuvers of those working to
obstruct our membership, which shock and amaze every reasonable man,” Arinc
said. “We didn’t destroy our honor so much that we would sacrifice
everything to be a member of the EU.”

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress