(ANKARA) - Turkey on Tuesday pledged a fresh reform drive to catch up with European Union norms after the bloc chided it for slowing down its efforts to join the bloc.

"Our commitment to completing our shortcomings and efficiently implementing the reforms on the ground is not decreasing -- on the contrary it is increasing," a foreign ministry statement said.

"We are determined to pursue reform until our country catches up with the highest levels of democracy and human rights," it said.

The government has already begun submitting to parliament proposals for fresh reforms, it said, without giving details.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said in an annual report on Turkey's membership bid that the country had achieved only limited progress in 2007.

Ankara stressed its accession process should not be "shaped in line with the preferences of the political leaders of some member states" or "reduced" to the implementation of a customs union pact calling for trade privileges for Cyprus, which it does not recognize.

"We hope our friends in the EU will show strong determination to resist raising irrelevant obstacles on our way" to membership, the statement said.

This appeared to be a reference to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a staunch opponent of Turkey's membership bid who in June succeeded in blocking the start of negotiations with Ankara on one of the three chapters the Commission had recommended.

Talks in eight of the 35 policy fields candidate countries must negotiate were already suspended last year in response to Ankara's refusal to open its sea and air ports to Greek Cypriot use.

Ankara had little time this year to deal with its EU bid as a presidential election in April sparked a severe political crisis and prompted early general elections in July.

The government is now engulfed in a crisis over the safe haven Kurdish rebels enjoy in northern Iraq, threatening cross-border military action to crack down on separatist bases there.

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