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Turkey, facing EU hurdles, may not attend accession talks

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  • Turkey, facing EU hurdles, may not attend accession talks

    Associated Press Worldstream
    September 29, 2005 Thursday

    Turkey, facing EU hurdles, may not attend accession talks

    by SUZAN FRASER; Associated Press Writer

    ANKARA, Turkey


    Turkey will not send its delegation to Luxembourg to open EU
    accession talks before officials see the document detailing the
    bloc's negotiating positions, the foreign minister said Thursday.

    "No one expects us to go to Luxembourg before seeing the negotiation
    framework document," said Abdullah Gul, who is scheduled to head the
    delegation.

    "Of course there is a possibility that negotiations will not start,"
    Gul said, but he added that "there are intense efforts" to bridge
    differences.

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, returning from an official visit
    to the United Arab Emirates late Thursday, also downplayed tensions,
    saying "I don't think it's a very serious problem."

    He added that if the document were given on the morning of Oct. 3,
    the day negotiations are set to begin, "then on the morning of Oct.
    3, we'll continue."

    Erdogan also said, however, that the EU and Turkey had previous
    agreements with respect to membership negotiations, and "it is not
    possible for us to accept anything outside of these."

    Predominantly Muslim Turkey's plans to begin negotiations for
    membership in the EU, set to start on Monday, have been thrown into
    disarray by the inability of European governments to come to an
    agreement on how to proceed.

    Austria has been pushing for a privileged partnership for Turkey
    rather than full membership, saying its people and others across
    Europe do not support bringing Turkey in.

    Several countries have also been pushing Turkey to recognize EU
    member Cyprus, and the European Parliament called on Turkey this week
    to recognize the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks at the
    beginning of the 20th century as genocide.

    "We are facing serious difficulties for the start of negotiations,"
    Gul said. "Everyone is working hard to overcome these serious
    difficulties... We are engaged in intense diplomacy."

    "Everyone knows Turkey's goals and where Turkey wants to go with
    these negotiations," he said in a reference to Turkish position that
    it will not accept anything short of full membership and expects to
    start negotiations without new conditions.

    While taking a tough position, Gul, speaking at a hastily called
    press conference, also appeared keen not to raise tensions with the
    EU and told reporters that other countries that recently joined the
    25-member bloc also confronted difficulties.

    "Of course it is even more difficult for Turkey, because Turkey is
    different," Gul said.

    "There's a heavy agenda in front of us," Gul said. But he added that
    "we still have time to solve these problems."
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