‘Turkey should not do anything at any cost to join EU,’ says Gul

Leading Dutch MP: Promising Ankara date ‘would diminish pressure’

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) in Ankara yesterday.

ANKARA (Combined reports) - Turkey will make every effort to join the European Union, but its membership in the bloc is not an objective it will pursue at “any cost,” Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said late Tuesday.

Gul told Parliament the EU was wary of admitting a country as vast as Turkey but was forced to consider the issue when Ankara — to the surprise of many — conducted a series of far-reaching reforms to align itself with EU democracy norms.

“We will do our best and see what happens,” Gul was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency. “If the outcome does not satisfy us, we will leave it there; if it does, we will go on.”

“We do not believe that Turkey should do anything at any cost to join the EU,” he said.

Gul’s comments came in response to questions by legislators — from both his ruling Justice and Development Party and the opposition — during a debate on the 2005 foreign affairs budget.

The minister described as a “great success” an October 6 report by the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, proclaiming Turkey ready for membership talks.

He nonetheless criticized several suggestions the Commission made to EU leaders scheduled to meet on December 17 to make the final decision on whether to invite Turkey to the negotiating table.

The Commission said accession talks with Turkey should be suspended if the country backtracks on democratic reforms and mentioned the possibility of imposing permanent measures to bar the free movement of Turkish nationals in the EU.

“If these (restrictions) are temporary, we will agree to them,” Gul said. “But we cannot accept an unconditional and indefinite absence of free movement from Turkey to another (EU) country.” He stressed that Ankara would also reject the suspension of negotiations for any reason other than serious breaches of democracy.

“We are making efforts to ensure that all these (conditions) are set out objectively, free of any deceit,” Gul said.

Yesterday, the parliamentary leader of Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s Christian Democrats said the European Union should not promise a date to Turkey for starting talks to join the bloc.

“Promising a date would diminish the pressure,” CDA parliamentary leader Maxime Verhagen told De Volkskrant daily in an interview ahead of a debate in parliament on the issue.

Verhagen said his party wanted the Turkish Parliament to adopt six human rights laws.

“A condition for negotiations with Ankara is no more torture. I am not going to bargain about that. I do not want a discussion on whether you can have 10 or 100 cases a year,” Verhagen said. (AFP, Reuters)