"Obstacles and Optimism as Turkey Embarks on EU Accession Talks
By Jon Gorvett
For many Turks this year, Ramadan started in a more celebratory mood than usual, as news came that European Union accession talks finally had begun—46 years after Turkey first applied.
“Thanks be to God,” Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said as he boarded the plane to Luxembourg to meet his 25 waiting EU opposite numbers, anxious to start accession talks with Turkey before a midnight Oct. 3 deadline. The next day, at dusk, the Ramadan fast began."
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