Turkey has a 'long road' to EU
(AP)
Updated: 2006-10-06 16:26 German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday that
the European Union's membership talks with Turkey will be a "long road," and
made clear that her conservative party remains skeptical about the country
joining the bloc.
Visiting German Chancellor Angela
Merkel sits flanked by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) and
Turkey's EU chief negotiator Ali Babacan (L) during Iftar, a dinner for
Muslims to break their fast in Ramadan, in Istanbul October 5,
2006.[Reuters] |
In opposition, Merkel and her Christian Democrats called for a "privileged
partnership", short of membership,for the large Muslim nation.
However, she now leads a coalition with the Social Democrats of predecessor
Gerhard Schroeder, who favor EU membership for Turkey, and the government
supports the membership talks.
"There is no change of mind,the position of the (Christian Democratic) Union
remains that we would see a privileged partnership as a more correct result,"
Merkel told ARD television during a visit to Turkey.
However, "and this is also right, when a previous government has decided
certain things, and the European Union decided to open membership talks with
Turkey,then we continue that," Merkel added.
"We always say that these negotiations are being conducted with an open
result _ they are still right at the beginning, and so a long road lies ahead of
us at the end of which the decision will have to be made what the result is,"
she said.
After arriving in Turkey on Thursday, Merkel repeated the EU's demand that
Ankara open its ports and airports to EU member Cyprus, but Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country would not take the step until the
isolation of Turkish Cypriots ends.
In Friday's ARD interview, Merkel reiterated that the issue "must be
overcome."
Still, she stressed that her talks in Turkey were taking place "in a very
good spirit,namely, in a spirit that we, Germany and Turkey, need each other
internationally."
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