- Title: BELGIUM: Turkey tries to rally support for EU accession bid
- Date: 27th June 2009
- Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JUNE 25, 2009) (REUTERS) REHN WITH TURKEY MINISTER FOR EU AFFAIRS EGEMEN BAGIS, SHAKING HANDS CAMERA OPERATORS BAGIS SPEAKING BAGIS AT MEETING TURKEY AND EU DELEGATIONS AROUND TABLE
- Embargoed: 12th July 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Belgium
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: International Relations,European Union
- Reuters ID: LVAA791QQUMUBNLYGQJT9JBG0PI
- Story Text: Turkey urged the 27 countries forming the European Union on Friday (June 26) to embrace its drive to join the bloc and vowed to defy "narrow-minded" populists trying to block its accession.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, visiting in Brussels to try to revive the membership drive, said Ankara was pushing ahead with the legal and political changes required to join the bloc and denied the reforms had almost ground to a halt.
Erdogan said he regretted that Turkey featured in the European elections earlier this month.
"Turkey hasn't been on the agenda or in the political agenda for the past months. As soon as the elections began, it became a conflict and our membership and EU candidacy started to get questioned. We want Europe to question those ever-changing, inconsistent politics that we are seeing in some European countries," Erdogan told an economic forum.
Turkey's membership was a campaign issue in this month's European Parliament election, with some right-wing parties making gains after opposing its accession.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, campaigning for her re-election, has indicated Turkey does not meet criteria for membership and should be offered a "privileged partnership".
Erdogan also commented on reports of a military plot against his government.
Liberal newspaper Taraf recently published what it said was a document drafted in April by a navy colonel on stopping the ruling AK Party and a religious movement from "destroying Turkey's secular order and replacing it by an Islamist state".
Erdogan pledged to press on with an investigation into the report.
"The military court decided not to pursue the matter any further. According to the proceedings of the civil law, we will be following up at a government level," Erdogan said.
Erdogan led a delegation that hoped to breathe new life into membership talks which are moving slowly, partly because of some states' fears about the implications of letting in a relatively poor, predominantly Muslim country of 70 million people.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn made clear in a speech at a Brussels conference that Turkey had to work harder.
"There is a pressing need to reform the legal and constitutional framework governing the closure of political parties. We simply cannot afford yet another unnecessary constitutional crisis stemming from outdated rules that are not in line with European standards," he said.
Just before leaving, Erdogan said he rejected proposals by France and Germany to grant Turkey a "privileged partnership" offering to enhance trade and other ties instead of full membership.
"There is no such ''privileged partnership'' in the European Union law. Our aim is full membership. We are continuing our efforts to reach that goal. We are not going to accept any other offers but full membership," Erdogan said.
Talks were frozen in eight chapters in 2006 after Turkey refused to open its ports and airports to vessels and aircraft from the Greek Cypriot-controlled part of Cyprus.
Ankara expects to conclude an agreement with the EU on Tuesday (June 30) to open the chapter on tax issues but there is no sign of progress in the ports dispute. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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