ANKARA, 1 October 2005 — Turkey yesterday urged the European Union to show “honesty” on its troubled membership bid as anger and frustration simmered over what Turks see as European backpedaling on pledges to admit the Muslim country into 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 the edge and its decades-old dream of integrating Europe shrouded in uncertainty.
“If we fail to see the honesty we expect, Turkey’s response will undoubtedly be very different from what has been said so far,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in the northern city of Corum, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said he would not go to Luxembourg for the start of the talks Monday if Ankara is dissatisfied with the conditions the EU offers.
“Undoubtedly, there is the risk of not starting membership talks,” 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 Sunday to seek a compromise on a negotiating framework — the guiding procedures and principles for Turkey’s talks.
The deadlock is blamed on Austria’s insistence to offer Turkey “privileged partnership” as an alternative to full membership, an option Ankara flatly rejects. “Some people in the EU have fallen prey to fanaticism, unable to free themselves from prejudice,” Erdogan said. 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.
“Anti-Turkey EU members such as France and Austria, as well as Europe’s rightist parties, have undertaken moves aimed at forcing Turkey to walk away from the (negotiating) table,” the pro-government daily Yeni Safak said yesterday.
Analysts wondered whether the country’s EU bid was going down the drain and even the staunchest proponents of membership cast doubts on European sincerity.
