Ankara, Dec 11: Turkey's Prime Minister Abdullah Gul today categorically rejected a Franco-German proposal to begin accession talks with the European Union in 2005 and hinted at possible counter-measures if such a late date was proposed. "It is not possible to accept the 2005 date. We absolutely reject it," Gul said in an interview published by Milliyet newspaper today.
"We insist on a date by the end of 2003," he added.
Turkey, the laggard among 13-EU hopeful states, is pressing EU leaders to set a firm date for the start of membership talks at the Copenhagen summit, which starts tomorrow.
The EU says Turkey needs more human rights reforms to become eligible for membership negotiations, and has lent support to a suggestion by Germany and France to begin talks with Ankara in July 2005 if the country has made sufficient progress on reform by then.
Gul said Ankara still hoped for a 2003 date to come out of the Copenhagen summit, but added that a contrary decision might spark a set of counter measures from Turkey.
"We have our own plan," the Prime Minister said.
"We would not like to offend other countries, but we cannot tolerate such a thing. We will not keep on sitting in the waiting room," he said.
Hurriyet newspaper, for its part, suggested that French and German firms might be excluded from future tenders here if Turkey did not get its way in Copenhagen. Bureau Report