Turkey Enters Membership Talks With E.U.

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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 E.U. foreign ministers in Luxembourg followed a day of frantic diplomacy that nearly foundered over Austrian opposition and differences over the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus.


“We have taken another giant step in our march toward Europe,” said the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, shortly after the deal was announced late yesterday. “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, the 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.


E.U. leaders agreed last December to open negotiations with Turkey by yesterday, partly in response to the sweeping reforms adopted by Mr. Erdogan’s government. However, arguments over details of an agreement that would guide those membership talks had threatened to delay or even scuttle Turkey’s bid.


Austria dropped its objections after a tough day of talks among the alliance’s 25 members, who had to come to a unanimous decision on starting negotiations with Turkey. A short time later, E.U. 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 that will see many aspects of its government policies and record on human rights and civil liberties held up to scrutiny by an increasingly skeptical


Europe. The European Union says the talks cannot end before 2014 at the earliest and that there is no guarantee that they will be concluded successfully.


Turkey’s proponents argue that its 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.


Mr. Straw warned earlier yesterday that blocking Turkey’s accession 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 Turkey has been growing across Europe in recent months fed by fears of mass migration from the large and underdeveloped country 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 European Union and Turkey over alliance member Cyprus threatened to derail yesterday’s deal. Turkey refuses to recognize Cyprus, which was divided since Turkish troops invaded the Turkish dominated north of the island in 1974 following an abortive coup attempt by Greek Cypriot ultranationalists.


The Turks’ concerns were overcome yesterday after the Bush administration assured them that America would support Turkey’s efforts to keep Cyprus out of NATO until a U.N.- sponsored deal to reunite the Mediterranean island was reached.


Despite the agreement to begin talks with the European Union, the mood in Turkey remained somber.


“The Europeans will never allow Turkey to join, and the conditions they are imposing are completely unacceptable,” a former foreign minister, Ismail Cem, told the private NTV news channel.


Many Turks are worried about the European Union’s emphasis on minority rights and on especially those of the country’s 14 million ethnic Kurds.


“The E.U. wants to divide Turkey, create an independent Kurdish state,” said a homemaker, Saliha Saka, who took part in a rally staged by ultranationalists in Ankara Sunday. “We will never allow it.”


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