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        EU may clear Turkey membership talks
        (Agencies)
        Updated: 2004-10-06 14:08

        After years of delays, the European Union's head office is likely to recommend that Turkey begin membership talks with the bloc — an endorsement that comes with one key proviso: that negotiations be halted if Ankara backtracks on sweeping democratic and human rights reforms.

        If the European Commission's expected recommendation is formally approved by the 25 EU leaders at a December summit, entry talks could begin in early 2005, capping years of lobbying by Turkish officials who say their country could form a bridge between Muslim countries and Europe.

        As attractive a prospect as that may be, many Europeans — including some of the commissioners — are wary of admitting Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim country of 71 million people, into the EU fold. Not all 30 European commissioners are expected to endorse the start of talks.

        In recent months, several commissioners have expressed skepticism about allowing in a secular Muslim nation with a weak economy and a questionable human rights record, whose population is projected to equal Germany's by 2015 and to be the largest in the EU by 2025.

        EU rules say that any European democracy with a market economy and which can adopt the euro as its currency can join. While the EU's immediate neighbors to the east, countries such as Poland and Hungary, were among 10 new members welcomed in May, Western Europeans have not been nearly as eager to embrace Turkey.

        Many in Western Europe fear mass Turkish immigration if the country were to join the EU, whose rules permit workers to move throughout the union freely.

        There is widespread sentiment against Turkish membership in France, Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands — nations with sizable immigrant populations and right-wing parties keen to exploit immigration issues in electoral campaigns.

        A draft report on Turkey's membership bid says that while the country has made progress in building democratic institutions that respect human rights, "deficiencies remain, and it is clear that political reform needs to be further consolidated and broadened."

        In his draft report, EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen termed the prospect of Turkish membership "challenging" and unique.

        Never before has the now 25-nation EU attempted to bring in a country as big and as poor as Turkey.

        "If well managed, (membership) would offer important opportunities" for both Western Europe and Turkey, he said in the report, adding that Turkish membership would boost stability on the volatile crossroads of Europe and Asia.

        EU officials say that even if membership talks start early next year, Turkey would not actually join the union until around 2015, giving the Turks and their supporters time to win over skeptics.

        "Turkey would be an important model of a country with a majority Muslim population adhering to such fundamental principles as liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law," the draft report says.

        Olli Rehn, the Finn due to succeed Verheugen as the EU's expansion chief on Nov. 1, has suggested the EU impose temporary curbs on immigration from Turkey after it joins.

        Such restrictions have been imposed on other newcomers, notably on the 10 mostly East European countries that joined in May.

        The opening of membership talks would be warmly welcomed in Washington, which as for years pushed the EU to absorb Turkey, a loyal NATO ally that lies on the doorstep of the Middle East.

        A key task for Turkey is to show that it is serious about eradicating torture, which Ankara has outlawed but which continues nevertheless, according to rights groups.

        Other areas where Turkey must show improvement include freedom of the press, prison reform, treatment of non-Muslim minorities and Kurds, and curbing the influence of the military, which has repeatedly seized power in the last five decades.

        The seeds of Turkish membership were sown in 1963 when the EU made Turkey an associate member. That status carries the prospect of future membership, but over the decades European leaders have put off making a decision on whether Ankara should be allowed to join.

        In 1987, the EU dismissed Turkey's application. In 1997, it invited East European nations to join, but not Turkey. In 1999, the EU leaders declared Turkey a candidate but gave no date to begin membership talks.

        Not until 2002 — 41 years after making Turkey an associate member — did EU leaders say they would decide at the end of 2004 on whether to open entry talks with Turkey.



         
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