EU, Turkey reach "historic" agreement on entry talks

The European Union (EU) and Turkey reached an agreement on Friday to start talks next year on the country's membership of the bloc.

Following Thursday's decision at a two-day summit to open accession talks with Turkey on Oct. 3, 2005, EU leaders held tough talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on some remaining obstacles like Cyprus.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, whose country holds the current EU presidency, confirmed that Turkey had accepted a compromise formula on Cyprus, paving the way for accession talks.

"I believe we can say that we have been writing history today, and the agreement we reached today will acquire full significance in the years ahead," Balkenende told a press conference after the summit.

He added that the Turkish government on Friday issued a declaration, confirming its readiness to sign the Protocol on the adaptation of the Ankara Agreement prior to the actual start of accession negotiations.

EU leaders hailed the agreement as a "historic" and "milestone" step, which would expand the EU's borders from Ireland to Iran.

"This is a new beginning for both Turkey and the EU," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, adding that the Dutch presidency had made an "amazing" achievement "in such a short period."

He noted that this is not the end of the process, but a beginning to make the EU enlargement enter into a new phrase.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the decision shows "that those who believe there is a fundamental clash of civilizations between Christians and Muslims are actually wrong; that they can work together; that we can cooperate together."

The United States also welcomed the EU's decision to start Turkey's accession talks next year.

"We welcome the European Union's decision to begin accession talks with Turkey on Oct. 3," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told a news briefing in Washington.

"Turkey's full integration into the European Union will be good for Europe and the world. The announcement of accession talks brings this step closer than ever," McClellan said.

In the meantime, the EU indicated that the talks would be an open-ended process and without a guarantee of eventual EU membership.

French President Jacques Chirac, who has promised a referendum on Turkish membership if the talks succeed, said the accession talks would last ten to 15 years and each EU member state would have a say in deciding whether to offer membership to the country during the talks.

"The opening of negotiations does not, naturally, mean accession. The road will be long, and difficult," said Chirac.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said he would also call a referendum because bringing a Muslim country into the EU "must not be decided in an ivory tower ... We cannot be indifferent about public opinion."

Turkey's entry is still strongly opposed in several EU countries, whose citizens fear an influx of culturally different migrants who would compete for jobs.

Also on Friday, Erdogan said agreeing to sign the text extending Turkey's association agreement with the EU to include Cyprus did not mean recognition of its government.

"The extension of the (association) agreement to 25 new EU member countries (including Cyprus) is a technical procedure," Erdogan said. "This adaptation protocol is in no way a recognition(of the Greek Cypriot government)."

Northern Cyprus leader Mehmet Ali Talat also stressed that Turkey's promise to update the 1963 Ankara Agreement with the EU by the time it starts accession talks did not mean a recognition of Cyprus republic.

"Extension of the Ankara Agreement without solving the Cyprus problem does not mean a recognition of the Cyprus republic. The real recognition can happen after resolution of the Cyprus problem," Talat was quoted as saying by Turkey's Anatolia News Agency.

Cyprus has been divided into the Greek Cypriot south and Turkish Cypriot north since 1974, when Turkish troops entered and seized the northern one-third of the island following a failed coup seeking union with Greece.

Only Ankara recognizes the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north, and it does not recognize the official Greek-Cypriot government in the south. Meanwhile, the conclusions issued by the summit said the EU would sign accession treaty with Romania and Bulgaria in April 2005 and "looked forward to welcoming it as a member from January 2007."

As for Croatia, the EU would open the accession talks with Croatia on March 17, 2005 "provided that there is full cooperation" with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Source: Xinhua