(ISTANBUL) - Bridging political rifts in Turkey, torn between secularists and defenders of broader religious freedom, is crucial for the country's EU membership bid, the European Commission chief said Friday.

"The experience of previous enlargements shows that accession can only be achieved on the basis of a strong political and societal consensus on reform," Jose Manuel Barroso said at a lunch hosted by Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan.

"The momentum for reform in Turkey can be found on the basis of such a consensus," he said, adding that "an agreement about the basic rules on the way the state and society works" was crucial.

Barroso, accompanied by Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, was visiting Turkey amid simmering tensions between the Islamist-rooted government and secularists that pose a new threat to Turkey's struggling bid to join the European Union.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is currently the subject of a court case seeking to ban the party for allegedly undermining Turkey's secular order in favour of an Islamist regime.

The AKP rejects the charges, saying that it is committed to the separation of state and religion, but argues that a rigid interpretation of secularism in Turkey often violates freedom of conscience.

Opponents argue that the AKP aims to advance its Islamist ambitions under the guise of improving religious freedoms as part of EU reforms, and point to the abolition of a ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities and the prohibition of alcohol in restaurants run by AKP municipalities.

Rehn signalled last month that Turkey's accession talks, which opened in 2005, could be derailed if the AKP is banned.

Addressing the Turkish parliament in Ankara Thursday, Barroso said the EU had no recipe for resolving Turkey's rift over secularism, urging Ankara to find "its own internal compromise."

He called on the government to re-focus on democracy reforms, stressing the need to improve freedom of speech and the rights of the Kurdish community, women, trade unions and to curb the military's political influence.

Earlier Friday, Barroso met with Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, who has been based in Istanbul since Byzantine times and the city's muftu, or highest Muslim authority.

He was to give a conference at Istanbul's Bilgi University later in the day before wrapping up his visit Saturday.

Turkey has so far opened accession talks in only six of the 35 policy areas that candidates are required to complete amid a row over Cyprus and strong opposition to its membership in some EU countries.

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