Turkey snubs German-French opposition to EU membership

“We’ll continue the negotiations in a determined fashion. Politicians come and go. They may be making assessments due to a lack of vision, but this will not deter us from our path,” Gul told reporters during a joint press conference with his Portuguese counterpart, Anibal Cavaco Silva.�

His remarks came after German and French leaders Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy reiterated their opposition to Ankara joining the 27-nation bloc, a move analysts described as an indicator of short-time calculations to achieve political advantage ahead of European Parliament elections set for next month.

“Turkish-EU negotiations have unanimously started. The legal situation that binds us also concerns all member states. The [EU] Commission and the Council are aware of this. We’ll carry on the negotiations,” said Gul.

The EU Commission was swift to respond to the weekend remarks made by Merkel and Sarkozy, who offer Turkey a privileged partnership, something that falls short of full membership.

“The Commission’s position on Turkey is clear. We have expressed this a thousand times. What’s important here is Turkey fulfilling the EU criteria,” Krisztina Nagy, spokesperson for EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn, was quoted as saying at a press briefing in Brussels.

“We’ll do our own job and continue the reforms,” said Gul. “Even if some chapters cannot be opened, we have the will to open and close them ourselves and when the day comes, it will take only five minutes to open all.”

Turkey formally began EU negotiations in October 2005 but talks have slowed for a number of reasons, including Ankara’s refusal to open its ports to traffic from member Greek Cyprus. Turkey has so far opened 10 chapters and Brussels suspended talks on eight chapters over to the Cyprus row.

Portugal’s visiting president expressed his country’s firm support for Turkey’s bid to join the EU.

“Portugal’s accession to the EU took seven years and the public opinion in many European countries was negative. I am sure Turkey will do what’s necessary in order to obtain public support,” said Silva.

He is expected to address the Turkish legislature later in the day and reiterate his open support for Turkey’s full membership in the EU.