Gul unworried by Austrian partnership call

Speaking in the Dutch capital of The Hague, Gul said that Austria was one of many EU member states that had backed the opening of accession talks with Turkey on the condition that the European Commission supported the move.
“The commission report is clear,” Gul said. “There is a clear-cut recommendation. So I am not worrying about anything.”
The EC tabled its report in October and recommended that accession talks begin with Turkey, s long as it addressed some ongoing concerns and implemented further reforms.
“Our relation with the EU is accession for full membership,” Gul said after meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot. “We are going to start accession negotiations.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said EU leaders had to offer Turkey something less than the option of full membership when they met for their December 16-17 summit.
Turning to the question of recognising the Greek Cypriot administration, which became a member of the EU in May, Gul said that this had never been set out as a pre-condition for Turkey’s membership of the bloc.
“We are not going to offer anything,” h said. “We have done everything from our side. The Turkish Cypriot people voted in favour of the reunification of the island. The Greek Cypriot leadership rejected the reunification of the island. So we are not the reason for the problem that the European Union is now facing.”