"'Membership of the EU would mark the culmination of all Ataturk's work'
By Peter Popham in Istanbul
Published: 04 October 2005
It was an American intervention that saved Turkey's EU accession talks from breaking down even before they had started. As Britain and the others bore down on a recalcitrant Austria, the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to say that whatever did or did not happen in Luxembourg, Turkey's status within Nato would be unaffected."
More:Independent Online Edition > Europe : app6
