Gul slams EU states opposed to Turkish membership
(ALEPPO) - Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Sunday that efforts by some European countries to block Ankara's entry into the 27-member European Union were "unacceptable."
"There has been a unanimous decision (by the Europeans) to start negotiations with Turkey" on its accession to the European Union, Gul told reporters on the sidelines of an official trip to neighbouring Syria.
"Any discussion on this is tantamount to violating the decisions taken by the EU and would mean that the decision to start negotiations with Turkey were not sincere, that the heads of state took a decision that did not reflect their intentions," Gul said.
"It would be unacceptable," Gul said, referring to France and Germany.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both recently reiterated their opposition to Turkey's EU membership and suggested a special status for the Muslim-majority but secular country.
Sarkozy has also said that Ankara did not have the "vocation" needed to join the European bloc and that Europe must have "frontiers."
Turkey began membership talks in 2005, but has so far opened negotiations on only 10 of the 35 policy areas that candidates must complete, which talks bogged down amid a trade row with Cyprus, Ankara's slow moving democratic reforms and strong opposition in some EU countries to its accession.
The discussions have also been hampered by Ankara's non-recognition of the republic of Cyprus as having sovereignty over the whole divided island.
Turkish Cypriots have a breakaway state in the north, which is only recognised by Ankara.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the northern third in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup to unite it with Greece.
Asked by AFP to explain Ankara's insistence on joining the European Union, the Turkish president said that Turkey had played a role in Europe ever since World War II.
"Turkey is a country that has made big sacrifices to protect a free Europe" during the Cold War, Gul said.
He also noted that Turkey joined NATO in 1952 "and became a member of the European Council in 1948."
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