Turkey argues EU entry talks should get under way in '03

ANKARA, Turkey -- The leader of Turkey's ruling party said Friday that negotiations for the country's European Union membership should start next year -- not in July 2005, as France and Germany propose.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a date for entry talks should be set at the EU summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, next week.

"We will notify both the EU presidency and other EU leaders," said Erdogan, leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party. "We will ask that negotiations not go beyond 2003."

But German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday that Turkey faces a "very, very long" road to joining the EU, even if it offers to open membership talks in 2005.

As the leaders traded barbs, U.S. diplomats worked behind the scenes to ease tensions between the EU and Turkey, a key strategic partner.

"We feel strongly that Turkey should be offered an early confirmed date to begin accession negotiations," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington, "and we're in contact with various other governments about that point of view."

Unlikely supporter

Turkey also found unexpected support from an EU member Friday: age-old rival Greece.

In Rome, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and Greek Premier Costas Simitis said setting an earlier starting date for talks would encourage Turkey to press ahead with reforms.

The French-German proposal, announced Thursday, calls for a December 2004 ruling by EU leaders on whether Turkey meets membership criteria. If Turkey passes muster, entry negotiations could start in July 2005.

Turkey believes that 2005 is too long a wait for a country that has been knocking at the European Union's door since the 1960s.

Turkish officials argue that other applicant countries have begun entry talks before meeting all membership criteria, and say European governments discriminate Turkey, a predominantly Muslim nation. On Friday, Prime Minister Abdullah Gul emphasized Turkey's strategic importance to Europe, and warned once again that the EU risked becoming a "Christian Club."

There are fears here that unless negotiations begin in 2003, Turkey's accession talks could be stalled indefinitely, as 10 new countries are expected to join the EU in 2004.

Turkey would need to convince 25 members -- including a hostile Cyprus -- instead of the current 15, Turkish diplomats say.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded the north of the island, leaving a Greek Cypriot administration in the south and a Turkish-backed breakaway state in the north.

The United States strongly supports Turkey's EU bid. The country has long been a key member of NATO, due to its strategic location near the Middle East and the former Soviet Union. U.S. warplanes are based at Incirlik, an air base in Turkey built during the Cold War that is about an hour's flight from northern Iraq.

Turkey's efforts to join the EU have lagged in part because of human rights concerns, and many EU governments want to see Turkey carry out further democratic reforms.

Turkey insists that it has demonstrated a willingness to meet membership criteria by passing reforms that included abolishing the death penalty. The newly elected government recently submitted a second package of reforms designed to prevent torture and to expand freedoms, and hopes to rush them through parliament before the EU summit meeting.