Turkey fails to win date for membership talks

Europe's leaders last night delivered a setback to Turkey's ambitions for speedy EU membership by ruling out talks on its bid to join before 2005 and giving no clear date for negotiations to start.

The announcement, made at a midnight press conference at the Copenhagen EU summit, means that a decision on whether to start talks on Turkey's EU bid will take place in December 2004 ­ later than a proposed date already rejected by Ankara.

Announcing the decision, the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said that if EU leaders decide in December 2004 that Turkey has made sufficient progress on democracy, human rights and economic stability, "then accession negotiations can begin as soon as possible". However, unlike some suggested compromises, there was no clear date for talks on membership to start.

Turkish sources reacted cautiously and one senior aide argued: "We evaluated the decision as a decision with good intentions. It is not a distant date and a bad decision. This can be viewed as an interim decision and it is flexible, still open to change."

Britain, which argued for an early date for talks with Turkey, put the best possible gloss on the decision, arguing that it meant that, providing human rights standards were improved, membership talks would definitely be approved in 2004.

However the deal appeared worse than that laid down under a Franco-German plan, which would have seen EU leaders meeting in the summer of 2004 to approve negotiations beginning in 2005.

Before the announcement Tony Blair had described a 2005 start date for negotiations ­ now the earliest possible time ­ as "too late".

Amid frantic diplomatic activity, diplomats were trying to get 25 current and future members of the EU to give a collective pledge to Ankara.

At stake is Europe's prickly relationship with Turkey, the prospect of admitting Cyprus into the EU in 2004 and of achieving reunification of the island, which has been divided since 1974.

Turkey's bid to join the EU club is intertwined with efforts to resolve the division of Cyprus because Ankara is in a position to put pressure on the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash.

In exchange, Ankara had been looking for a firm pledge on starting negotiations on membership. Once such talks are opened, they have invariably led to an invitation to join in the past.

The Franco-German blueprint foresaw the EU leaders meeting in July 2004 to approve plans to open talks on Turkey's EU membership in 2005 ­ subject to Ankara meeting human rights standards.

Ankara opposed this plan because by 1 May 2004 the EU is due to have admitted 10 new member states and Turkey wanted the decision on its membership talks to be taken by the current 15, not a group of 25, some of whom may have objections to its candidature.

Britain, Spain and Italy have backed Ankara's case, which has also been supported by the US President, George Bush.

One compromise floated by Turkey was to move forward the decision on when to start talks to April 2004 or earlier, allowing the negotiations to begin in 2005 as envisaged by the French and Germans. However that has been blocked, particularly by Paris, which believes that any decision before the European elections in June 2004 would be a hostage to the far-right.

Instead EU diplomats said there could be a statement on Turkey from no fewer than 25 countries ­ the existing 15 from the EU plus the 10 about to join ­ about Turkey. Such a document would also deal with the membership bid of Romania and Bulgaria, which hope to join the EU in 2007, and Turkey.

Alternatively, all 28 countries might issue a joint declaration. The EU might also offer a sweetener to Turkey by re-categorising cash already given to Ankara as "pre-accession aid", underlining Ankara's new status.

After talks with the Turkish Prime Minister, Abdullah Gul, in Copenhagen, Mr Blair said the summit should decide a "firm and clear date" for the talks to start. "It will be the clearest possible signal that the EU wants Turkey in the EU family."

Prospects of reaching a swift deal on Cyprus were looking less optimistic last night. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of Turkey's new ruling party, was praised by diplomats for his efforts to resolve the Cyprus issue. However Mr Denktash, the hardline leader of the Turkish Cypriots, is in hospital in Ankara. Any deal needs the support of the Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders, Turkey, Greece, the UK (a guarantor power) and the UN.

Meanwhile the Turks agreed to allow the EU's embryonic rapid reaction force guaranteed access to Nato's military planning capabilities. A dispute over that plan has blocked the development of the EU's military ambitions.