Gul to Persuade Christian Democrats

It is known that the Christian Democrats will use Turkey’s membership as a tool during the election campaigns. However, a decision against Turkey is not expected from the congress. Speaking to Zaman, EPP officials state that some parties oppose Turkey’s membership but that this was not carried down to all of the members.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has made special efforts to be close to the European Christian Democrats since day one. Within this context, Gul aims to avoid the reservations concerning Turkey’s membership and instead provide information to the Christian Democrats.

Some of the Christian Democrat parties in the E.U. oppose giving a date for talks to Turkey during the December 2004 summit. German, Dutch, and Austrian Christian Democrat parties, in particular, support giving Turkey a special status instead of E.U. membership. The brother party of German Christian Democrats in Bavaria, the German Christian Social Union Party (CSU) repeated that it was against Turkey’s E.U. membership in its EP election program and was approved to offer Turkey a privileged partnership in the election program accepted in Munich on the previous day.

Gul is also expected to meet with E.U. Commissioner for Enlargement, Günther Verheugen, E.U. High Representative, Javier Solana, and Greek New Democracy Party Leader, Kostas Karamanlis, during his trip to Europe.