Duitse minister Fischer: "EU kan Turkije niet blijven uitsluiten"

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has warned against keeping Turkey out of the EU.

Speaking during an official visit to Ankara on Wednesday (21 January), Mr Fischer said a "high price" would be paid if this were to happen adding that, for Europe's security, Turkey is more important than a "missile defence system".

However, he also told the Turkish paper Hürriyet that Germany and other countries in the EU had both rational and emotional objections against Turkey that have to be dealt with.

The German Foreign Minister stuck close to the line of the European Commission by insisting on the importance of solving the Cyprus problem.

"The resolution of the problem as soon as possible will create a very favourable environment", Mr Fischer told reporters after meeting his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gül.

Turkey, a candidate for EU membership since 1999, will hear by the end of the year whether is has achieved the political criteria for Union membership.

Whether it gets a date to start accession negotiations has been closely linked to the Cyprus question. If no solution is found, Turkey risks being considered an occupier of EU soil when Cyprus joins the EU on 1 May.

Turkey has kept soldiers in northern Cyprus since its 1974 invasion in response to a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

"There is a very important opportunity here and I think both sides on the island should seize it. Everybody here knows what needs to be done", said Mr Fischer.

For his part, Mr Gül said that his country would "do whatever possible" to get the peace talks, which broke down earlier this year, up and running again.

Their words come just before the Turkish National Security Council is expected to meet on Friday (23 January) to finalise a policy document which will set Ankara's line on the Cyprus issue.

This document is expected to detail changes to a UN plan, presented in November 2002, to reunite the island. It will set Turkey's tone in the forthcoming negotiations on the issue.