"Europe eyes Turkey
Turkey secures date for EU talks but stormy waters lie ahead, reports Gareth Jenkins from Istanbul
On Friday the European Union finally granted Turkey a date for the opening of accession negotiations, but the process is likely to be long and problematic with no guarantee of eventual membership. Perhaps more critically, the Justice and Development Party government no longer has an excuse to avoid confronting a series of potentially incendiary domestic issues it had put on hold pending receiving the date from the EU.
Last Friday the EU gave the green light to the most ambitious enlargement in its history when it finally set a date for the beginning of accession negotiations with Turkey in a move which, if successful, will not only make Turkey the first Muslim member of the world's largest trading bloc but extend the EU's border into the Middle East for the first time."
More:Al-Ahram Weekly | International | Europe eyes Turkey
