Turkey pushes bid for EU membership

Erdogan pledges to change policies

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey (left) and EU Commission leader Jose Manuel Barroso met in Brussels. (Yves Herman/ Reuters)

BRUSSELS - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey yesterday renewed his commitment to European Union membership on a rare visit to Brussels aimed at boosting slow-moving talks to join the 27-nation bloc.

Erdogan received support from EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who said Turkey had started the year well by enacting some EU-required policy changes.

Underlining the sensitivity of the troubled talks, Erdogan started his visit by threatening to reconsider his support for the EU-backed Nabucco gas pipeline project because of a Cypriot veto on energy-related aspects of Ankara's membership negotiations.

The $12 billion project, which would bring Middle Eastern and Caspian gas to Europe via Turkey, is seen as one of Europe's best hopes for limiting its dependence on Russian natural gas. The need for alternative sources was highlighted by this month's cutoff of Russian supplies passing through Ukraine.

Later, after meeting Barroso, Erdogan said he would never use Nabucco as a weapon and that he fully backed the project. The two insisted that cooperation between the EU and Turkey on energy matters was crucial.

Turkey began EU membership negotiations in 2005 but has made slow progress in a climate of political distractions at home and a resistance among EU states to enlarging the union.

Ankara has opened talks on 10 out of the 35 policy areas it needs for EU entry but has provisionally completed negotiations on just one. The EU has frozen discussions on eight areas as Ankara refuses to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriots.

Analysts said Erdogan's comments on Nabucco reflected frustration with the slow rate of progress.

"Sometimes he gets slightly carried away in the heat of the moment," said Amanda Akcakoca of the Brussels-based European Policy Center. "Maybe he was just letting off a bit of steam."

"The prime minister wanted to raise awareness about the problems the Cyprus government poses," said Sinan Ulgen, head of the Istanbul-based Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies.

Erdogan, on his first trip to the EU capital in four years, stressed that Turkey was determined to boost its efforts this year to achieve full membership.

"Accession to the EU is a top priority," Erdogan said. "I hope there will be a leap in 2009."

Ulgen said Turkey had failed in recent years to put commitments to step up EU policies into action, and it remained to be seen whether things would be any different this time.

The EU wants Ankara to revise its constitution, improve free speech, grant more rights to minorities, and curb the power of the army. Erdogan said Turkey was working hard on many of these changes, including laws governing trade unions.