Turkey's prospects of winning a date to start talks on its EU membership have been given a boost by support from key European capitals. Diplomats want to close a deal at a summit next month.
In one of his clearest declarations of support for Ankara, the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, called on the EU yesterday to send Turkey a strong "signal" of encouragement at the forthcoming Copenhagen summit. "The real question now is to decide a date, not for Turkey's accession to the EU, but for the start of entry talks," Mr Schröder said.
Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, the Portuguese Prime Minister, said that excluding Turkey from the EU on the basis of religion would be a "grave error".
Hopes are now rising that a deal can be struck in Copenhagen to give new impetus to Turkey's membership ambitions while resolving the division of Cyprus. Ankara's willingness to help to reunite the island, partitioned since 1974, is now a central issue.
The new Turkish government is pressing hard to start negotiations because history shows that, once nations begin formal membership talks with the EU, an invitation to join inevitably follows. Because of its poor human rights record, Turkey has lagged behind others with its application and, with demographers predicting that the country would be an expanded EU's most populous nation by 2020, its candidature is highly controversial.
Claims by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the former French president who chairs an inquiry into the future of Europe, that Turkish membership would be "the end of the EU", seem to have backfired.
The government in Paris was forced to disown M. Giscard's comments, although it has not declared for or against giving Turkey a starting date for talks.
Behind the scenes, Washington has been lobbying for its ally, and Berlin is anxious to mend fences with the Americans after the dispute over Mr Schröder's opposition to any possible war in Iraq.
Any formula to offer Turkey a start date for talks, perhaps in 2004, will be conditional on it implementing key human rights and democratic reforms. One idea being proposed is for a conditional date to be set with progress to be reviewed next year. Less acceptable to Ankara is a plan for EU leaders to agree to meet on a specified date to consider when talks should start.
The deal Turkey gets will, though, be dependent on what help it can give the EU in two areas. The Danish presidency of the EU is looking for Turkey to remove its veto on allowing the EU's embryonic military force guaranteed access to Nato's planning facilities. Diplomats say that agreement is almost complete.
More sensitive is the EU's desire for Ankara to pressure Turkish Cypriots to agree to a United Nations plan to end the division of their island. The issue is pressing because Cyprus will be invited to join the EU during the meeting in Copenhagen. One EU diplomat said: "A deal on Cyprus would play a huge role in determining what Turkey could get, or could not get."
THE EUROPEAN PRESS
From an editorial in the 'Turkish Daily News'
Turks are mobilised to convince Europeans that we are worthy of a place in Europe and are prepared to shoulder all the necessary responsibilities to achieve this.
Erdogan has shown his qualities in courting European heads of government. But success lies in two areas. The government must lay the legal groundwork for a civilised contemporary democracy and second, make a serious response to the UN on Cyprus.
Once all this is done Turkey will surely get a "date" for a date for the accession talks to start. This will be acceptable provided the EU summit declaration contains the right words.
THE INDEPENDENT
By Jean Christou
THE NATIONAL Council yesterday gave President Glafcos Clerides a free hand to handle the Cyprus issue in the run-up to possible negotiations on the UN's 140-page plan for a settlement.
Speaking after the National Council meeting yesterday, Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said the party leaders had discussed the plan and expressed their views. They had given the President a "free hand", he said.
Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, who was discharged from hospital in New York on Wednesday night, must hand in their replies to the UN by tomorrow.
The President, quizzed by journalists after the National Council meeting on whether there was enough time to negotiate an initial agreement said only: "We are heading towards the European Union".
The UN and the EU want to see a foundation agreement signed by the EU Copenhagen summit on December 12, leaving the two sides strapped for time and several serious highly contentious issues to thrash out.
Papapetrou admitted that the time remaining for substantial negotiations before December 12 had become very tight and reiterated the government's stance that the recommended deadline should not be considered as binding.
He said the tight timeframe would be discussed at a meeting this morning between Clerides and UN envoy Alvaro de Soto.
In an interview with the BBC, Denktash yesterday said the proposed plan was "worse" than the 1960 agreement, which established the Cyprus Republic, and difficult to work with.
"And it is taking away the political equality of the Turkish Cypriots making them a protected minority in our view," he said. "The territorial issue is utter nonsense. It cannot be even looked at. My people are up in arms against it. It is unjust, but we are ready to discuss territory, naturally when the time comes."
The UN plan envisages reducing the Turkish-controlled areas from 37 per cent to 28.5 per cent and allowing around 85,000 Greek Cypriot refugees to return to their homes. It also displaces around 42,000 Turkish Cypriots.
"There are a lot of points on which we can improve and Mr Clerides' approach is exactly like mine. We never said we are in love with the proposals," Denktash added.
"We are ready to continue face-to-face with Mr Clerides, we are ready to look at the plan of the Secretary General, but we are telling him frankly, and I think both sides are doing it, that there are a lot of things which have to be changed if this plan is going to be the basis for a settlement."
Denktash has said that an agreement cannot be signed under pressure, and that progress cannot be achieved without consulting the views of his 'government', 'parliament' and people. "One cannot sign an agreement through pressure. If a document is to be signed, then we will look into the following points: Is it in our interests? Will it rescue our people? Do the parliament and the government approve of the document to be signed? We will look into these issues and then we will sign," he told Turkish Cypriot radio.
He said the Turkish Cypriot side was in contact with Ankara and "are being assured that there are no changes in the Cyprus view, in the national view".
"Promises are being made that a timetable (for starting EU entry talks) will be given to Turkey as long as the Cyprus issue is resolved, but we shall see on December 12. What will happen if they do not set a date?"
CYPRUS MAIL 29/11/2002
By Jean Christou
CYPRUS MAIL 29/11/2002