"Turkish leader represents a side of his country held back by secularism
By Turkey poised on the brink,Vincent Boland
Published: October 3 2005 03:00 | Last updated: October 3 2005 03:00
On December 17 last year, during the fraught and bitter discussions in Brussels that led the European Union to issue a formal invitation to Turkey to join, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, threatened to walk out of the talks and catch the next flight back to Ankara.
According to some who were there, Mr Erdogan had to be almost physically dragged back into the negotiating room by Tony Blair, Gerhard Schr�der and other European leaders who supported Turkey's EU ambitions. In the end he stayed, received his invitation, and returned to Ankara to cheers from his supporters."
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