Portuguese backs Turkey’s EU membership bid

The Portuguese leader also praised democratization reforms that Turkey has recently undertaken to catch up with EU political norms.

Sampaio, on an official visit to Ankara, was also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey has suffered years of rejection from Brussels for its alleged lack of democracy.

Ankara has promised to complete by the end of the year all the reforms requested by the EU, whose leaders will assess the democratisation progress in December 2004 before deciding whether to open accession talks.