Turkish stocks soar on EU hopes

Mr Verheugen is on a fact-finding mission to Turkey

Turkey's stock market has closed at a record high on hopes that the European Union will soon invite the country to start accession talks.

The benchmark Istanbul share index closed 1.3% higher at 21,119, easily beating its previous closing high of 20,887 on 29 March.

The rally followed positive remarks from EU enlargement chief Guenter Verheugen, who is on a trip to Turkey.

It is his final visit before the EU decides whether to open negotiations.

That decision will be taken at a meeting of EU heads of government in December.

Progress report

The meeting will focus on a European Commission report assessing Turkey's progress towards meeting the criteria for EU membership, due out in early October.

On Tuesday, Mr Verheugen said Turkey needed to reinforce the rights of its Kurdish minority.

But earlier this week, he praised a recent round of judicial and constitutional reforms pushed through by the Turkish government.

Turkey has long harboured ambitions to join the EU, but for decades made little progress because of its poor human rights record.

It achieved a breakthrough in 1999 when the EU officially recognised it as a candidate and has subsequently been praised for stepping up the pace of political reforms.

Supporters of Turkey's candidacy argue that denying it membership would alienate a key Islamic ally at a time of increased tension between the West and the Muslim world.

But some EU countries worry that Turkey's large population and low average income levels would upset the balance of power within the bloc, and put its finances under intolerable strain.