(ANKARA) - Turkey remains committed to its bid to join the European Union despite a partial freeze of its troubled membership talks over a trade dispute with Cyprus, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Friday.

"It is not possible for us to accept the EU acting in a way that is contrary to the core and spirit of our relations by hiding behind various excuses such as the Cyprus issue," Gul told a gathering of the country's most influential business group TUSIAD.

"But ... we are not going to sulk or say 'we are not with you anymore'... We are not going to endanger Turkey's future," Gul said. "It is out of the question for us to abandon our struggle."

At a summit last week, EU leaders suspended Turkey's accession talks in eight of the 35 policy chapters each candidate must complete due to its refusal to open its ports and airports to Cyprus under a customs union accord it signed with the bloc last year.

They also decided that Turkey can open accession talks in policy areas other than those eight chapters, but cannot formally complete them as long as the dispute over Cyprus remains unsolved.

The sanctions came as a blow to Turkey's EU bid a little more than a year after accession talks got off to a turbulent start in October 2005 amid widespread public opposition in Europe to the country's membership.

Gul gave assurances that the Ankara government would continue to pursue reforms to align itself with EU norms.

"We are commited to our target of full membership. The reform process will continue as before," he said.

Turkish businessmen have traditionally been strong supporters of EU membership, which they believe will attract foreign investment and be a further boost to the country's economy, rapidly recovering from a severe recession five years ago.

"What is important is that the (EU) process continues. The main issue is not to allow short-term fluctuations to damage Turkey's full EU membership perspective," TUSIAD president Omer Sabanci said.

EU membership "is a republican ideal, a national project and a cross-party policy," he added.

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