Britain Renews Backing for Turkey's Membership in EU

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 12, 2002

Britain Renews Backing for Turkey's Membership in EU

Britain on Wednesday made clear again its strong backing for Turkey's membership in the European Union, but held back from publicly suggesting a date for the start of EU accession talks with Ankara.

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Britain on Wednesday made clear again its strong backing for Turkey's membership in the European Union, but held back from publicly suggesting a date for the start of EU accession talks with Ankara.

Speaking in London on the eve of the EU summit in Copenhagen, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Britain would support Turkey to seek a membership of EU.

"We want to welcome Turkey into this family of European nations.To work in partnership with a secular Muslim democracy would be a prize worth striving for in any circumstances, but especially now," he told reporters in a press conference held here in London.

Leaders of the 15-nation EU are scheduled to meet in Copenhagenon Thursday. The summit is expected to decide to expand the bloc to 25 states in 2004.

But Straw refused to say when Britain thinks Turkey should be accepted into EU.

He said some ideas were thrown around the table at a pre-summit meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels at the start of this week, but adding that nothing was finalized.

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