EU ministers to hold emergency talks on Turkey

European Union foreign ministers will hold emergency talks this weekend to try to overcome Austrian objections to starting entry talks with Turkey, after ambassadors failed to reach agreement today, diplomats said.

Austria held to its position that Turkey be offered the option of a lesser partnership rather than full membership in negotiations which are scheduled to start on Monday.

All 25 EU nations have to agree on a negotiating mandate before talks can begin with Ankara.

The deadlock will put further strain on ties with Ankara which is growing increasingly restless over attempts by several EU nations to put the brakes on opening negotiations.

A British EU presidency spokesman confirmed the EU foreign ministers will hold talks on Sunday in Luxembourg, on the eve of the planned opening of negotiations with Turkey. Bilateral talks will continue in the meantime between London and Vienna to try and get Austria to back down.

Austria says its people – and many others across the bloc – do not support full membership for Turkey and is demanding Ankara be given the option of a privileged partnership. Turkey firmly rejects anything less than full membership talks.

Austria is also linking the Turkey talks with its wish to see the EU do more to review Croatia’s now-frozen efforts to join the bloc. Brussels has demanded that Zagreb cooperate more in handing over a top war crimes suspect to the UN war crimes tribunal.

Diplomats said Britain and other member states were unlikely to yield to demands to drop guarantees of full membership.

The draft mandate states the “shared objective of the negotiations is accession,” but adds they are “open-ended.” It does not mention a partnership as an alternative.

Membership talks would be a major milestone for Europe and predominantly Muslim Turkey, which has been knocking on the EU’s door since 1963.

The EU nations secured Cypriot support last week to start the talks, after Nicosia agreed to plans that the EU push Turkey to recognise the Mediterranean island during entry talks, leaving Austria as the only hold up.

EU diplomats have been negotiating for nearly two months to agree on a joint negotiating mandate and a declaration demanding that Turkey recognise EU member Cyprus.

The declaration warns that non-recognition could paralyse the negotiations. The EU issued the demand after Turkey said it still refused to recognise the island’s government, which effectively controls only the Greek Cypriot south.

Ankara said an agreement it signed in July to widen its customs union with the EU to include Cyprus and nine other new EU members did not amount to recognition of the Greek-Cypriot government.

Yesterday, the European Parliament added to tense EU-Turkey ties, voting to postpone a vote to ratify Turkey’s customs union with the EU, a requirement of membership. The politicians also called on Ankara to recognise the 1915-1923 killings of Armenians as genocide, which Turkey vehemently denies.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan immediately dismissed the non-binding European resolution on the extremely sensitive Armenian issue.