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EU's Solana predicts last-minute deal on Turkey
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-02 10:04
"We want the negotiations to start but we want everyone to know what we are
talking about. There must be other options than full accession," Vienna's
Foreign Ministry Secretary of State Hans Winkler told Austrian daily Kurier in
an interview published on Saturday.
"Alternative means that there are several possibilities. Full membership is
only one. We owe it to the people to put what we mean on the table clearly,"
Winkler said.
BACKLASH
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara expected to be treated
fairly by the EU and warned of a backlash if the 25-nation bloc moved the
goalposts at the last minute.
EU diplomats have said the biggest problem is Austria's insistence on
deleting a long-standing commitment that "the shared objective of the
negotiations is accession".
Vienna also wants to spell out that if the Union is ultimately unable to
absorb Turkey, it should be anchored to Europe through "the strongest possible
alternative bond".
Turkey has warned it will walk away if offered such a second-class status.
About 4,000 Turkish Kurds marched through the centre of Brussels, demanding
that "Kurdistan" be recognised and included in Turkey's entry talks with the EU.
Kurdish rebels have been fighting for 20 years for a homeland in southeast
Turkey.
Vural Oeger, a German member of the European parliament from the Social
Democrats, said in a separate interview with NDR radio that he was also
confident the row threatening the start of Turkey's accession talks would be
resolved.
"I have the feeling there will be an agreement at the last minute," Oeger
said.
Friedbert Pflueger, a member of Germany's conservative Christian Democrats,
said he welcomed Austria's position.
"That's not a blockade," Pflueger told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper.
"Austria is raising concerns that are shared in many other
countries."
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