"Turkey outlines its terms before EU summit
By Daniel Dombey in Ankara
Published: December 8 2004 02:00 | Last updated: December 8 2004 02:00
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, yesterday sounded a defiant note ahead of a historic summit later this month, saying that if any conditions were added to Turkey's application for European Union membership, it would be 'unacceptable'.
European leaders such as Jacques Chirac, the French president, have pushed for the EU to leave open the possibility of an agreement on December 17 that would allow the bloc to offer only 'privileged partnership' should full membership negotiations eventually founder.
Turkey is not expected to finish the talks before 2015."
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