Turkey frustrated over EU membership

By Alex Singleton | 4 September 2005

Nicola Smith reports in The Scotsman that:

Turkey is threatening to walk away from talks on joining the European Union if it is offered anything less than full membership, claiming some member states see the EU as a "Christian club".

The warning, from the country's foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, cast a shadow over a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Wales yesterday, which was billed as an opportunity to discuss the future of the negotiations.

The EU pledged last December to open talks with Turkey on 3 October, but European leaders have been increasingly questioning whether their citizens are ready to accept the huge Muslim nation, which is significantly poorer than any current EU nation.

European leaders have been lining up over the summer to raise the possibility that Turkey should be offered a "privileged partnership" with the EU rather than full membership.

However, Mr Gul told the Economist magazine... "Should they [the EU] propose anything short of full membership, or any new conditions, we will walk away. And this time it will be for good."

Mr Gul's comments signalled that the Turks have been pushed to the limit of their patience by recent public statements emerging from French, Austrian and German leaders that have thrown Turkey's EU bid and the prompt start of accession negotiations into doubt.

Later this month I will be in Istanbul to meet with Turkish business leaders to hear their views on Turkey's role in the global economy. For further information on the work of free-market thinkers in Turkey, visit the website of the Association for Liberal Thinking, an Ankara-based think tank.