"Time to talk to Turkey
Leader
Friday September 30, 2005
The Guardian
Turkey has already waited more than 40 years to join the European mainstream, but there are still a few more tense days left before there can be certainty that its ambition will eventually be realised. The hope is that last-minute hitches will be resolved by EU foreign ministers on Sunday, allowing the accession talks to begin the following day, as promised. Since the rules require such big decisions to be agreed by all 25 member states, Austria alone has been able to block this one, demanding that instead of negotiating full membership like every other country seeking to join the club, Turkey should be offered only a 'special partnership'. Ankara rejects such an approach as discriminatory. So, to their credit, does everyone else, including the governments of France, the Netherlands and Germany, despite the strong anti-Turkish feeling that played a big role in the paralysing rejection of the EU constitution this summer."
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