TURKEY: Turkey yesterday threatened to abandon "for good" its 40-year dream of joining the European Union if it is offered anything less than full membership.
As the EU paved the way for negotiations to open on October 3rd, the Turkish foreign minister pledged to walk away if a proposal to downgrade its membership is on the table.
Abdullah Gul told the Economist: "Should [ the EU] place anything short of full membership, or any new conditions, we will walk away. And this time it will be for good." His remarks were reinforced by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, who accused "a few countries" of exploiting Turkey's proposed EU membership for domestic political reasons. "Let's stop playing to the gallery and try to get a result," he said in Naples.
The remarks were aimed mainly at Angela Merkel, Germany's centre-right leader, who is expected to be elected chancellor this month. She believes a "privileged partnership" for Turkey should be tabled when negotiations open in Luxembourg.
Turkey was upset by the proposal from Ms Merkel because it would turn the talks on their head. The negotiations are meant to lead to full membership - something akin to the Merkel proposal is due to appear only if the talks fail after 10 years.
Ankara fears that Ms Merkel's expected German election success - and the rejection of the EU constitution by French and Dutch voters, who registered strong opposition to Turkey - have hardened attitudes. The French president, Jacques Chirac, who is still officially in favour of Turkish membership, has turned on Ankara in recent weeks as he responds to French voters.
The doubts about Turkey were voiced at a meeting of European foreign ministers yesterday in Wales.
The ministers gave the green light to the formal start of membership talks, but only after France and Cyprus criticised Turkey's conduct when it cleared the final hurdle to membership talks - signing a customs union with all 25 EU members.
France and Cyprus were angered because Turkey attached a declaration which said it would not recognise the Greek Cypriot government. It also pledged to keep its ports and airports closed to Cypriot ships and planes.
Mr Chirac accused the Turks of not acting "in the spirit" of the EU.