EU ministers debate how to negotiate with Turkey

European Union foreign ministers will meet in Luxembourg on Sunday night to try to reach agreement on how to negotiate with Turkey over its bid to join the bloc. Current holder of the EU presidency Britain is determined to clinch a deal, and a ceremony to mark the opening of accession talks is already planned for Monday. A snag though has been Austria’s insistence that alternatives to full membership must be included. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has said he is confident a last-minute deal can be reached before Monday’s planned start of entry talks.

In the Turkish parliament in Ankara, the country’s president warned the bloc that every new obstacle to entry talks represents what he calls a “wall of prejudice” that could upset the evolution of the EU. In Brussels on Saturday about 4,000 Turkish Kurds marched through the centre of the city, demanding that their interests be recognised and included in Turkey’s entry talks. Kurish rebels have been fighting for 20 years for a homeland in southeast Turkey.

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