Turkey 'will walk away from EU talks'

Turkey will walk away from its talks with the European Union if it is offered anything less than full membership, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was quoted as saying.

The European Union agreed last December to open talks with Turkey on October 3, but EU leaders have been increasingly questioning whether they are ready to accept the overwhelmingly poor and Muslim nation and have been raising the possibility of offering Turkey a partnership and not full membership.

“Should they (the EU) propose anything short of full membership, or any new conditions, we will walk away,” The Economist quoted Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as saying. “And this time it will be for good.”

A Turkish official said Turkish leaders were becoming “disillusioned” and “frustrated” with their EU bid, but would press European leaders to honour their agreement to open accession talks.

Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik proposed yesterday that Turkey be given a special relationship and not full membership, a suggestion supported by officials in Slovakia, France, and the Christian Democrats in Germany who are widely expected to win Germany’s September 18 general election.

Polls in many European countries have showed that the public has serious misgivings about letting in Turkey and voters in the Netherlands and France voted down accepting the European constitution, in part due to opposition to accepting Turkey.

Doubts about starting talks with Turkey are not “because of any fault of my government, but rather because of certain countries within the EU,” The Economist quoted Gul as saying.

“No one should expect Turkey to make any concessions this time,” Gul was quoted as saying. “We have stuck to our side of the bargain, the EU should stick to theirs.”