Turkey can no longer be kept waiting

Turkey has won praise from Brussels for the flurry of liberal political and legal reforms that have boosted hopes of winning a date at the December EU summit to start entry talks. However, any one of the 25-member states could veto the opening of talks.

"If Turkey is still kept waiting after December 2004, then we look for what lies behind it and that will be the civilization we belong to," Erdogan said adressing a symposium, dubbed the "National Social Policies in the EU Harmonization Process", in Ankara.

Erdogan’s latest comments followed his official visit to Brussels last week where he held talks with a number of EU leaders. Recent media reports suggested that skepcitism prevailed over allowing the overhelmingly Muslim but secular Turkey to come closer to the EU.

"Turkey, which has been at the door of the EU for 41 years, can no longer be kept waiting," Erdogan said.

New Austrian President Heinz Fischer, who takes office on July 8, told the Aksam daily that the EU was not ready to accept Turkey as a member.

"We are talking about a large country of 70 million people. Turkey can change the balance within the EU. It can turn everything upside down," the paper quoted Fischer as saying.

Erdogan, in his speech, said the EU should be a place where different civilizations meet.

"If we succeed, I believe the EU will give an important message to the world that says ‘we are not a community of coal and steel,’ as it was when the EU was established, nor is it a Christian club," he said.

In the autumn, the EU Commission will release a critical progress report assessing Turkey’s membership efforts and recommending to EU leaders whether or not the country is ready to open accession talks.

Turkey more prepared than current EU member countries
Turkey has been knocking on the EU’s doors since 1963. It became an official candidate in 1999 at an EU summit in Helsinki and remains the sole candidate country yet to open accession talks with the EU.

The prine minister pointed out Ankara’s accelarated reform efforts to meet EU standards in recent months and said Turkey was "definitely more prepared for membership talks than many of the current EU member countries."

Turkey’s Parliament has passed a flurry of democratic reforms, including the abolition of the death penalty, limiting powers of the military and the granting of greater rights to its Kurdish citizens. Praising the reform efforts, EU officials say the implementation of the new laws is as vital as their legislation.

Erdogan reiterated his commitment to maintain efforts to eliminate Turkey’s deficiencies once Ankara started the accession talks.

"This is a process of negotiation, not full membership. Nevertheles, we may still have some deficiencies but even some current members have not yet fully complied with the EU Acquis," he said.

The EU admitted 10 new members, including Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the Greek Cyprus Administration on May 1 and aims to take Romania and Bulgaria in 2007, furthermore Croatia is also about to open membership talks.