Turkey tells EU: don't make us wait any longer

Turkey told the European Union yesterday it had been kept waiting long enough to join the wealthy bloc and said failure to open entry talks this year would spark bitter disappointment in the country of 70 million.

EU leaders are due to decide in December whether Turkey has made sufficient progress on human rights to begin what are sure to be lengthy and complex accession negotiations.

"In December, Turkey will be expecting the EU to make a decision on our common future. This cannot, should not, be postponed any longer," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told a gathering of Ankara-based EU ambassadors.

"Turkey has been put on hold longer than enough. To delay a decision, the EU has used up various arguments. Some of these arguments have not been to the benefit of the Union's own credibility," Gul said according to a text of his speech.

Nato-member Turkey has been knocking on Brussels' door since 1963 but only became an official candidate in 1999. Ankara has been irked to see former communist countries overtake it on the EU road. Eight such states will join in May. Ankara has often accused the EU of exaggerating Turkey's human rights abuses and other shortcomings while often giving other candidate countries the benefit of the doubt.

Many Turks suspect the EU does not really want to admit their country on account of its Muslim religion and large, relatively poor population.

The ruling Justice and Development Party, which has Islamist roots, has approved a swathe of political and human rights legislation, winning praise from EU leaders. But they have also urged Ankara to fully implement the new laws.