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Turkey bids for EU membership

Thursday, November 27, 1997 Published at 18:06 GMT

image: [ Luxembourg PM Jean-Claude Juncker is unlikely to give any assurances ]

Turkey bids for EU membership
Leaders of theTurkish government are holding talks with a European Union delegation on whether the country has a future inside the block.

Turkey wants its position clarified before a formal announcement on enlargement of the EU is made at a European summit in December.

The Turkish Foreign Minister, Ismail Cem, says that if Turkey is not named as a candidate for future enlargement, his government will drop EU membership from its political agenda.

[ image: width=154]

The Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker and the Foreign Minister Jacques Poos are in Istanbul to meet the Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz.

Luxembourg holds the six-month presidency of the EU.

Turkey was angered in July when the European Commission did not recommend it as one of the countries with which the EU should open accession negotiations, despite an application for membership lodged in 1985.

[ image: width=154]

While there is support for Turkey's bid in several countries, there are many obstacles, notably its poor human rights record, its tense relations with Greece and the future of the divided island of Cyprus.

The British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said on Wednesday that Turkey must be invited to the conference for members-in-waiting planned by Britain soon after it takes over the EU presidency in January.

"If we are serious about tackling the drug problem in western Europe, for example, it is much more helpful to do it with Turkey present than with Turkey absent," he said.

He said only Greece remained opposed to the idea of Turkey attending.

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Republic of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs
European Union

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