Turkish negotiator rejects concerns 'coup' sweep could hit EU bid

(RIGA) - Turkey's chief EU negotiator on Friday brushed aside suggestions that a wave of arrests tied to an alleged military coup plot could upset his country's drive to join the bloc.

"I think what's happening in Turkey is the process of Turkey's Europeanisation and normalisation," Egemen Bagis said during a visit to the Baltic state of Latvia, which joined the EU in 2004.

"When there are attempts against a democratically-elected government or when there are rumours about attempts, the independent judicial branch and independent prosecutors start cases and individuals can be questioned and they can be freed or detained," he said.

In the most dramatic move to date against the Turkish armed forces, police have since Monday detained dozens of suspects over a purported plot.

Bagis said the crackdown was a sign of Turkey's EU-readiness.

"It would be the other way round if people could get away with trying to topple a democratically-elected government," he said.

"Turkey has come a long way in its democracy, its transparency and its determination to become a state of law," he added.

Turkey has been an official EU candidate since 2004, but talks have proceeded slowly since then, with no firm offer of eventual membership on the table.

Brussels has been consistently critical of the pace of reforms in Turkey -- which Bagis insisted would be complete by 2013 -- while Ankara's refusal to deal normally with EU member Cyprus is another major stumbling block to its candidacy.

On top of that some EU nations have a more fundamental reluctance to allow such a large and largely Muslim nation into their club.