EU Leaders might Say, ‘Just Kidding!’ on Dec. 17

Gul immediately expressed that this was not his expectation, nor does he expect any other surprises on December 17th. He added that the US’s recognition of Macedonia was, according to Gul, "quite the right decision".

Gul’s expectation of the summit is: "A decision, which will start the negotiations in 2005 and underline the final aim of the negotiations as full membership." The Foreign Minister said that the European leaders should claim their signatures. He furthermore reminded them that one of Europe’s values is faithfulness to those signatures.

While at the summit, Gul addressed some of the EU’s. He said that although Turkey’s size could create some problems, it should not be a reason to it unjustly. When asked about reports that the French will propose the start of a hatching process rather than negotiations, Gul said this process should be completed briefly and continued: "This should never be a biased process, rather should be evaluated as a technical issue."

Gul also reiterated some of his concerns with the October 6th recommendation to the EU Commissioner for Enlargement Gunter Verheugen. A primary issue for Ankara is the ‘open ended negotiations’. Verhuegen assuaged its concerns by stating that the decisive aim of the negotiations was full membership.