COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller warned Turkey yesterday that any use of torture would bar it from ever joining the EU. “If there is torture, there will be no negotiations or membership of the European Union,” Moeller told reporters following a meeting with his British counterpart Jack Straw in Copenhagen. He conceded, however, that “we have a problem at the doorstep of Europe: It is better to have Turkey as a part of the European family than (as) an enemy of the European family.”

ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia drew back yesterday from previous indications it would send troops to Iraq and sign a deal with Washington exempting US troops from prosecution by the International Criminal Court. Speaking just before a visit to Washington, Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul’s comments represented a turnabout by the new government, which took office in December pledging to seek better ties with Washington. “In the current global relations, I do not think it would be good to consider (sending troops to Iraq) now. I think everyone is aware of that,” Zuzul told Reuters.

Some 2,000 people chanted anti-Israeli and anti-US slogans in Ankara yesterday to protest Israel’s killing of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the militant group Hamas. The demonstrators gathered at a park and marched to a mosque a few kilometers away where prayers in Yassin’s memory were held. (AP)

NATO peacekeepers in Bosnia have been making arrests without warrants in a blatant breach of basic human rights, a mediator in the Balkan republic’s Serb territory said yesterday. The Republika Srpska ombudsman said in a statement that the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) had arrested three alleged supporters of indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic without the proper legal clearance. (AP)

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) formally applied for membership of the European Union on Monday, joining a growing list of nations seeking to enter the bloc. The EU welcomed the bid from the Balkan country. Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy representative, called it a “a signal of remarkable achievement as well as a sign of hope for the whole region.” (AP)