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Turkey wary of EU intentions

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  • Turkey wary of EU intentions

    Washington Times
    Oct 1 2005

    Turkey wary of EU intentions
    By Sibel Utku Bila


    ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey yesterday girded for a showdown with the
    European Union as anger and frustration simmered over what Turks see
    as European backpedaling on pledges to admit the Muslim country to
    the bloc.
    With just three days left before the start of membership talks,
    EU countries were still wrangling over accession terms for Turkey,
    leaving Ankara on edge and its decades-old dream of integrating with
    Europe shrouded in uncertainty.
    Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said he would not go to Luxembourg
    for the start of the talks Monday if Ankara is dissatisfied with the
    EU's conditions.
    "Undoubtedly, there is the risk of not starting membership
    talks," Mr. Gul conceded late Thursday. "We are facing serious
    problems."
    In an 11th-hour bid for a breakthrough, the EU will hold an
    emergency meeting of foreign ministers tomorrow to seek a compromise
    on a negotiating framework -- the guiding procedures and principles
    for the talks with Turkey.
    The deadlock is blamed on Austria's insistence to offer Turkey
    "privileged partnership" as an alternative to full membership, an
    option Ankara flatly rejects.
    Mr. Gul said he would not board the plane for Luxembourg before
    seeing the final document, but remained hopeful of a compromise
    despite the time pressure.
    Turkey has been trying to join the EU since the 1960s, but its
    place in Europe has come increasingly into question, especially since
    French and Dutch voters rejected a planned EU constitution, partly
    over concerns about the membership of this sizeable and relatively
    poor Muslim country.
    The European Parliament fueled angry accusations that the
    admission bar is being deliberately raised for Turkey when it urged
    Ankara earlier this week to acknowledge that the Ottoman Empire --
    predecessor of the Turkish Republic -- committed "genocide" against
    Armenians in World War I, as a condition for joining.
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