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Turkish FM rejects Austrian call for EU 'partnership'
AFP: 11/30/2004

THE HAGUE, Nov 30 (AFP) - Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul rejected out of hand Tuesday an Austrian call for Turkey to be offered a partnership with the European Union rather than full membership of the bloc.

"Our relation with the EU is accession for full membership. We are going to start accession negotiations," Gul said after meeting Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.

He noted that all EU countries including Austria had agreed at the end of 2002 to launch the accession talks provided the bloc's executive commission gave its approval, which came in a report issued in October.

"The commission report is clear. There is a clear-cut recommendation. So I am not worrying about anything," Gul said.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said Tuesday that it was "indispensable" that EU leaders at a December 16-17 summit offer Turkey something short of membership.

Germany's conservative opposition has also raised the possibility of Turkey being given a "privileged partnership" with the EU rather than full accession.

Gul's meeting with Bot came after draft summit conclusions obtained by AFP Monday pointed to the EU leaders giving the green light for entry talks with Turkey, but only with a string of conditions attached.

According to Bot, Gul said the EU's demands as laid out in the European Commission report "should be reduced to just a few conditions".

"I've told him that of course as presidency we have to start with all the elements in the commission paper and we have to test the feelings of all our partners. I've asked for his comprehension of this situation," he said.

On the Austrian call, Bot said that "we, the European Union, have always said that there can be no discrimination between candidates".

Among other stumbling blocks for Turkey is the insistence of Greece and Cyprus that Ankara recognise the internationally endorsed government of the Mediterranean island rather than its breakaway Turkish zone.

"I have submitted this element to his attention, and I have said that this ... is an important element and that he should reflect on its importance," Bot said.

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied the northern third of the island in response to a coup designed to unite the island with Greece.

Only the Greek-Cypriot part of the island joined the EU on May 1, after Greek Cypriots rejected in a referendum a UN blueprint to reunify the island.

But Gul noted that a settlement to the Cyprus issue was never listed by the EU as a precondition for launching membership negotiations with Turkey.

"We are not going to offer anything. We have done everything from our side," he said.

"Turkish Cypriot people voted in favour of the reunification of the island. The Greek Cypriot leadership rejected the reunification of the island. So we are not the reason for the problem that the European Union is now facing."