"The Ball is in Brussels's Court
Abdulhamit Bilici
Columnist Abdulhamit Bilici comments on Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul�s current official visit to Britain and Turkey�s European Union membership bid. A summary of his column is as follows:
�British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who received our Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday in London, said that Turkey was quite ready to sign the protocol extending its Customs Union with present EU members to all the new states. �The ball is now in Brussels� court,� Straw said at a joint press conference following his meeting with Gul. For his part, Gul stressed that preparations to start membership negotiations with the EU in October were on track. Asked whether Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos could put increased pressure on Brussels to slow down Turkey�s EU process, Straw said that Britain has no wish to deal with any further problems on the Cyprus issue now, because it is high time for Ankara and Brussels to focus on the start of negotiations. "
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