"EU 'writing history' with offer to Turkey: Dutch PM
AFP: 12/17/2004
BRUSSELS, Dec 17 (AFP) - The European Union is 'writing history' with its decision to start membership talks with Turkey next October, the bloc's Dutch presidency said Friday at the close of an EU summit here.
'If I think back on today and the decisions that have been taken, we have been writing history today,' Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told reporters after EU leaders resolved an impasse over Cyprus that had threatened to block an accord.
He added that the agreement was an 'important and brave decision by Turkey, by Cyprus and by the EU as a whole.' "
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