European Union leaders gather on Thursday to make a long-awaited decision on launching entry talks with Turkey. They are widely expected to give the green light despite last-ditch haggling over the exact terms of the offer.
Turkey, which has been knocking on the European bloc’s door for more than 40 years, cautioned on the eve of the two-day EU summit that it will not agree to start negotiations ”at any price”.
And the EU is keeping pressure on Ankara to recognise the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, a call that in theory could cloud the decision since the Greek Cypriot government has been an EU member state since May.
But the two sides’ warnings seem unlikely to change the basic decision, expected to be made over dinner on Thursday evening and put in writing on Friday.
”There seems to be a ‘yes’ coming,” said Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who will host the EU gathering as current holder of the bloc’s rotating leadership.
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.
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, which geographically spans the Bosphorus divide between Europe and Asia, first signed an association agreement with the then European Economic Community in 1963.
Its big breakthrough came two years ago, when the EU agreed — at the same time as agreeing to let in 10 states in the bloc’s biggest-to-date expansion — to decide in December this year on whether to start talks with Turkey.
Now that moment has come, and the arguments are, if anything, stormier than ever.
The most pro-Turkey EU states — including Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain — argue that admitting Turkey is a strategic priority as a bridge to the Muslim world.
But there is a hard core of sceptics, including Austria, Cyprus and Denmark. They argue that Turkey is simply too big, too different and too poor to join. The alternative proposed is a special partnership rather than membership.
With an eye to winning over sceptical publics, the EU leaders are expected to impose a series of stringent conditions on Turkey and warn that the accession talks will last a decade at least, with no guarantee of success.
Cyprus is expected to be among the most sensitive issues at the EU talks. Turkey has repeatedly rejected calls to give formal recognition to the Cypriot government.
But the EU is maintaining pressure on Ankara to recognise Cyprus — by signing a formal EU diplomatic agreement that amounts to a de facto recognition.
”Otherwise we will have a problem with Cyprus, that’s absolutely clear,” said an EU presidency source.
Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied the northern third of the island. Only the Greek-Cypriot part joined the EU in May, after Greek Cypriots rejected a United Nations blueprint to reunify Cyprus. — Sapa-AFP