"....She (Merkel) underscored during Sunday's debate her opposition to Turkish membership of the EU, arguing that 'the EU does not have the capacity of integration to take in Turkey as a full member.' Merkel proposes offering Turkey a 'privileged partnership' instead.
'It would be entirely irresponsible now to awake in Turkey expectations of full membership ... and then be unable to implement that,' she said.
Schroeder accused her of making 'a major foreign policy mistake.'
'You do not understand what geostrategic, what geopolitical significance linking Turkey to the EU has,' he said."
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