Prodi assures Turkey will get fair assessment

"We shall not touch on the economic performance of the country. We shall not put anything into the report concerning Cyprus," Prodi said at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul in Istanbul.

Prodi arrived on Thursday for a two-day visit, becoming the first EU Commission president to visit Turkey in four decades. In talks with Turkish leaders, including President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he said the reform progress of Turkey brought it closer to joining the EU.

Turkey has been an EU candidate since 1999 and EU leaders will decide in December whether or not to open accession negotiations with Ankara. The Commission will release a progress report in October and recommend to the leaders whether or not to open talks with Turkey.

EU leaders meeting in Brussels in December will have the final say. If they decide that Turkey’s reforms go far enough, the largely Muslim country of 71 million people is expected to start the long-delayed entry talks in early 2005.

Erdogan said in a dinner held for Prodi on Thursday night that Prodi’s responsibility as head of the Commission was "historic." According to reports, he told Prodi in a previous meeting closed to the press that a negative outcome from the December summit might put things onto an undesired course, as it is inevitable that such an outcome may have certain strategic implications.

"I told the prime minister that not only the direction (of the reforms) is correct but the speed is remarkable," Prodi told a news conference in Istanbul, Turkey’s business capital.

"We added also that implementation is essential to meet the Copenhagen criteria (on human rights and political freedoms)."

Foreign Minister Gul said at the same conference that Turkey would do its part to meet the Copenhagen criteria and be ready to open talks by the end of 2004.

Prodi also reiterated that ending the decades-old division of Cyprus between Greek and Turkish Cypriots would not be a precondition for opening accession talks with Ankara, but he said a settlement would clearly boost Turkey’s chances.

With or without a settlement, the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government will join the EU on May 1. The Turkish Cypriots are expected to agree shortly to resume stalled peace talks.

Praise for Erdogan
At the dinner on Thursday night, Prodi said the reform performance under Erdogan’s government was remarkable, calling him one of the three greatest leaders of Turkey.

These leaders are Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey and former President Turgut Ozal, seen as the architect of Turkey’s liberal reforms in the 1980s, Prodi said.

While in Turkey, Prodi warned Turkish leaders that there was no consensus in the European public on Turkey’s membership and said the political leadership in Turkey and the EU should see and address this "political reality."