Thursday December 16
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to offer Turkey a date of Oct. 3, 2005 to begin negotiations on its membership of the bloc, said Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
But the 25 leaders were still debating the vexed issue of Turkish recognition of Cyprus, with the Greek Cypriot government insisting Ankara normalize ties with Nicosia before the proposed start date for EU negotiations.
EU leaders agreed the aim would be membership rather than any privileged partnership but no outcome would be guaranteed, the diplomats said. If talks failed, the EU would seek other ways of tying NATO member Turkey, viewed by Washington and others as a key Western ally, into European structures.
"We are going to go ahead on Oct. 3 (2005 ) to allow Turkey and the Turkish parliament to recognize Cyprus," Berlusconi told reporters of EU expectations that Ankara recognize the Greek Cypriot government before starting talks.
Leaders arriving for the Brussels summit had expressed confidence they would reach agreement on offering talks for the largely Muslim and agrarian nation of 70 million, which sits on the hinge of southeast Europe and the Middle East.
But the Turks blew hot and cold on recognizing the Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia, a move the EU expects Ankara to make at least indirectly before it starts talks.
"Direct or indirect recognition of Cyprus is out of the question," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters.
ERDOGAN HINTS ON CYPRUS
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, however, hinted after a day of intensive contacts with EU leaders that he might make the necessary gesture.
"We are always ready to take new steps on Cyprus, but what is important is the manner of the step," he told reporters. "The weighting of the wording is important now."
Turkey has insisted in the past that recognition of Cyprus depends on a settlement to reunite the eastern Mediterranean island under a U.N. peace plan which Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots accepted but Greek Cypriots rejected in April.
Erdogan urged EU leaders not to set what Ankara sees as discriminatory conditions, and to open the doors of their wealthy bloc to a non-Christian nation.
Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos declined to rule a veto in or out. But EU diplomats said Cyprus was isolated in the bloc with most partners furious at its rejection of a U.N. peace plan and in no position to frustrate the general will.
Turkey's supporters see a chance to bridge a divide between Europe and the Islamic world by incorporating a vibrant Muslim democracy. Opponents say Turkey would be hard to integrate and that the EU would risk "enlarging itself to death" by extending its borders to Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Turkey, which plunged into its worst recession since 1945 after twin financial crises in 2000-2001, hopes EU entry talks will encourage foreign investors. Earlier this week Ankara struck a deal with the International Monetary Fund on a new $10 billion loan to replace a $19 billion deal ending in February.
BARROSO PLEA TO TURKEY
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso urged Turkey to "go the extra mile" to show Europeans it was ready for membership talks despite misgivings among many EU voters about admitting a poor and Muslim nation.
"The challenge for Turkey is to win the hearts and minds of those European citizens who are open to, but not yet fully convinced of, Turkey's European destiny," Barroso said.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after talks with Erdogan he believed Turkey would extend its existing EU pact to the bloc's 10 new member states, including Cyprus, giving it de facto recognition, before starting talks next year.
But a Greek official told reporters after Erdogan met Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis that Erdogan had stuck to his public position that he would have difficulty doing so on Cyprus. "Negotiations are very tough," the Greek official said.
Turkish officials said Erdogan sought to persuade EU leaders not to describe negotiations as "open-ended" or mention possible permanent safeguards against labor migration from Turkey.
Erdogan said discussions would go on overnight but forecast everything would be resolved by 1 p.m. (7 a.m. EST) on Friday, the scheduled end of the summit.
Turkey's hopes were boosted on Wednesday when President Jacques Chirac, defying the view of two-thirds of French voters, spelled out on television his belief that Turkish accession would spread stability and security if Ankara met EU conditions.
His endorsement and optimism about the summit outcome stoked euphoria on Turkish financial markets. The main Istanbul share index ended up 2.77 percent at a record close. The Turkish lira was also firmer.
Turkey is seeking to end more than 40 years in the wealthy bloc's waiting room since it signed an association deal in 1963.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, the summit chairman, was to put the EU's terms to Erdogan over breakfast on Friday before the leaders approve a final statement at a session starting at 11:15 a.m. (5:15 a.m. EST).
