TURKEY'S caretaker Prime Minister, Ms Tansu Ciller, met the Italian Prime Minister, Mr Lamberto Dini, and President Luigi Scalfaro yesterday and pressed for the release of EU aid due to Ankara under the terms of the customs union.
Ms Ciller flew to Italy, which currently holds the EU Presidency, to counter Greek moves to block the aid after its clash with Turkey last month over an uninhabited islet in the Aegean Sea.
Greece is blocking the release of a five year 375 million ecu ($487 million) aid package to help Turkey adjust to the customs union, which came into effect on January 1st.
"The delay of such an event, only because Greece wants it, would mean a breach of the agreement and the EU's failure to fulfil its responsibilities," Mr Ciller said on Turkish television on Monday.
The customs pact, opening up the huge EU market to Turkish goods, had been held up by Greece for 14 years. Athens finally lifted its veto last year when the EU promised to 591 a date for membership negotiations to begin with Cyprus.
Greece failed on Monday to obtain a firm statement of support from its EU partners in its row with Turkey receiving instead a muted endorsement from the Italian EU Presidency after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
Diplomats said Britain blocked accord on a joint EU statement because it implied that agreements reached with Turkey last year could be reopened at a later date.
The Italian Foreign Minister, Ms Susanna Agnelli, said that the ministers had agreed that the aid package would be on the table for approval at their next meeting at the end of March.
The easing of the Greek position follows intense behind the scenes pressure from other EU countries who had warned that Athens's resistance on the customs union could threaten negotiations on bringing Cyprus into the EU.
. The pro Islamic Welfare Party called yesterday for new elections in Turkey, after two months of fruitless horse trading to form a conservative coalition government.
A Welfare deputy, Mr Abdullah Gul, said "A coalition between Motherland and [Ms Ciller's] True Path would be solely in the interests of Turkey's wealthy."
. Turkish military officials have said that they are planning a pre spring operation backed by air power in eastern provinces to prevent Kurdish rebels from using forests as cover.