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taly's Berlusconi calls Turkey EU deal 'complete victory'
AFP: 12/16/2004

BRUSSELS, Dec 16 (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hailed a deal Thursday to open EU membership talks with Turkey next October as a "complete victory" and a "compromise solution that is good for Turkey and Europe".

"It is a complete victory" which reflects "the objections of certain countries (such as) France and Austria which were concerned about the opening of negotiations," Berlusconi told reporters on the opening night of an EU summit after leaders set October 3, 2005 for the start of membership talks.

"This is a very positive outcome because we set October 3 to give Turkey the time required to recognize Cyprus, something that is necessary because one cannot join a family without recognizing one of its members," he said.

"Turkey demanded to have the time to enable its parliament to approve the recognition of Cyprus. We gave it the time."

Berlusconi said that leaders had also taken into account "the demands of certain countries, France above all" that wanted negotiations to begin during the second half of 2005.

France plans a referendum on the European constitution during the first half of next year and does not want the Turkey issue overshadowing the debate.