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Austrian objections and a quarrel over Cyprus
threatened to delay the Muslim nation's bid
ANKARA, Turkey - After waiting in Europe's
antechamber for 42 years, Turkey early today became
the first predominantly Muslim country to open
membership talks with the European Union.
The negotiations launched at a gathering of EU
foreign ministers in Luxembourg followed a day of
frantic diplomacy that nearly foundered on Austrian
opposition and differences over the divided
Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
"We have taken another giant step in our march
toward Europe," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said shortly after the deal was announced
late Monday. "The journey will be fraught with
difficulties, and should Europe abide by its
promises … our success will then largely depend on
you, the Turkish people."
In Luxembourg, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw,
who led what he called "a pretty grueling 30 hours
of negotiations," said the agreement marked a "truly
historic day for Europe and the whole of the
international community."
Since 1963, Turkey has been an associate member of
the alliance, awaiting full membership.
EU leaders agreed in December to open negotiations
with Turkey by Monday, partly in response to
sweeping reforms adopted by Erdogan's government.
However, arguments over details of an agreement that
would guide those talks had threatened to delay or
even scuttle Turkey's membership bid.
Austria dropped its objections after a tough day of
talks among the alliance's 25 members, who were
required to come to a unanimous decision if the
membership negotiations with Turkey were to begin. A
short time later, EU officials announced that they
had agreed to Vienna's request to open delayed
membership talks with Croatia, a historical ally of
the Austrians.
Turkey now faces an arduous process in which many
aspects of its policies and record on human rights
and civil liberties will be held up to scrutiny by
an increasingly skeptical Europe. The EU says that
the talks cannot end before 2014 and that there is
no guarantee they will end in Turkey's favor.
Backers of Turkey's membership bid say the country's
youthful population, modern army and strategic
importance at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle
East and the former Soviet states would inject
sorely needed dynamism and muscle into the European
bloc.
Straw warned earlier Monday that blocking Turkey's
entry would send a negative signal to the rest of
the Muslim world, creating a "theological-political
divide, which could open up even further down the
boundary between so-called Christian heritage states
and those of Islamic heritage."
But opposition to Turkish membership has been
growing across Europe in recent months, fed by fears
of mass migration from the large, underdeveloped
nation of 70 million.
Austria had been pressing for a so-called privileged
partnership for the Turks that would fall short of
full membership. Turkey had roundly rejected that
proposal.
In addition to Austria's resistance, differences
between the EU and Turkey over alliance member
Cyprus threatened to derail Monday's deal. Turkey
refuses to recognize Cyprus, which has been divided
since Turkish troops invaded the Turkish-dominated
north of the island in 1974 after an abortive coup
by Greek Cypriot ultranationalists.
The Turks' concerns were overcome Monday after the
Bush administration assured them that the U.S. would
support Turkey's efforts to keep Cyprus out of NATO
until a United Nations-sponsored deal to reunify the
island was reached.
Despite the agreement to begin talks with the EU,
the mood in Turkey remained somber.
"The Europeans will never allow Turkey to join, and
the conditions they are imposing are completely
unacceptable," Ismail Cem, a former foreign
minister, told the NTV news channel.
Many Turks are worried
about the EU's emphasis on minority rights,
especially as it may apply to the country's 14
million ethnic Kurds.
"The EU wants to divide Turkey, create an
independent Kurdish state," said Saliha Saka, a
homemaker who took part in a rally staged by
ultranationalists Sunday in Ankara, the capital. "We
will never allow it."
Yet despite such fears, the majority of Turks still
support EU membership, according to polls, if only
for the reforms that the membership bid has already
brought, such as abolition of the death penalty.
"In the end, the [membership] process is more
important than actual membership itself," said Semih
Idiz, a commentator on EU affairs. The irony, he
noted, is that the day Turkey becomes "fit to join
the EU, it will be fit to survive without it."
www.latimes.com
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