‘Shunning Muslim Turkey to end EU ideal’

The run-up to the December decision has been marked by a fierce debate in EU member states on whether the vast and relatively poor country, with an overwhelmingly Muslim population and a strictly secular system, has a place in Europe.

"When you go beyond the superstition and the arguments of the Middle Ages, the choice to be made is clear," Gul was quoted by Anatolia news agency as telling a conference in Istanbul on Turkish foreign policy. "Excluding Turkey on pretexts, rather than allowing Turkey in, would be the bankruptcy of the EU ideal. When this ideal is removed, what will be left will only be a soulless bureaucratic mechanism," he added. Gul argued that his country had fulfilled the political criteria — known as the Copenhagen criteria — required for the opening of membership talks and earned the right to obtain a date for the beginning of negotiations.

"It would be a great injustice to Turkey to say that it does not meet the Copenhagen criteria…Turkey has done all that it has to do, it is ready to begin accession talks," the minister added. Turkey has in recent years passed a series of reforms aimed at improving its crippled democracy and poor human rights record, but Brussels has said it must also see the reforms properly implemented. In a highly critical report last month, the European parliament poured cold water on Turkey’s aspirations, saying that Ankara should adopt a brand-new constitution, lessen the army’s influence in politics and end continuing rights violations to show that it is serious about becoming a member.