EU Membership Negotiations to Start in March

Gul commented on the EU Commission’s recommendation: "This is a historical decision obviously because the start of negotiations is recommended. Other issues are the details." Gul explained in his speech on Kanal D television last evening that authorities in Luxembourg who will hold the next EU term presidency in early 2005 told Straw that they were being prepared for negotiations with Turkey.

The Foreign Minister emphasized the validity of the EU leaders’ decision despite the fact that the progress report did not specify a date: "Negotiations will start immediately if the progress report is affirmative." Gul insisted that even the Austrian Prime Minister, the EU leader most opposed to Turkey’s membership, wants negotiations to be "urgent and transparent." Gul stressed: "We have been orbiting the EU for over 40 years. Now we have entered its nucleus." Most of the concerns about Turkey’s membership center on its size and Gul said: "We meet some of the issues with understanding, but we will look for our rights in case of an obvious injustice. There may be countries that want to conduct a referendum after 10 years, but conditions may change in favor of Turkey." Meanwhile, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Gunter Verheugen described the decision regarding negotiations as the "2nd biggest reform" after the reforms made by the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.