Turkije hoopt dat onderhandelingen met EU in eerste helft 2005 beginnen (en)

Turkey hopes to start membership negotiations during the first half of next year, according to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Speaking in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on Wednesday (6 October) Mr Erdogan said, "We hope to bring a long-travelled road to its final lap with the initiation of accession negotiations in the first half of 2005".

Mr Erdogan also acknowledged that his country's membership of the EU would not be achieved overnight but criticised the Union for adding special conditions for Turkish membership.

"Certainly Turkey anticipates concluding this phase within a reasonable period of time", Mr Erdogan said, adding that Turkey would contribute fully to the process.

Against EU's own principles

The European Commission agreed this week to declare Turkey ready to launch membership negotiations.

But Brussels stressed that negotiations could be stopped at any time if Turkey violates human rights. In addition, the report recommended restrictions on freedom of movement for Turks hoping to move to the EU.

In Strasbourg, the Turkish Prime Minister criticised such extra conditions for Turkey's entry to the Union.

"If the European Union suspends the negotiations, it lacks respect towards Turkey and is acting against its own principles", Mr Erdogan said at a press conference in Strasbourg.

The final decision of when to start membership negotiations with Turkey lies with the EU leaders meeting in Brussels for an EU summit in December.

Council of Europe invites Turkish Cypriots

Mr Erdogan focussed in his speech on Cyprus and called it "a step in the right direction" that the parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe this week invited representatives from the Turkish Cypriots community to sit in its Chamber as observers.

"It is only natural that the Turkish Cypriots who have made a European choice, take their due place in this forum for pan-European dialogue and cooperation", said the Turkish Premier.

Two elected representatives of the Turkish Cypriots will be able to speak but not to vote in the chamber.

The move is seen widely as a recognition of Turkish Cypriot support in a referendum earlier this year of the UN's plan to settle the long dispute over the division of Cyprus.

The majority of Greek Cypriots rejected a UN peace plan on 24 April, denying the much poorer north EU membership benefits when the island joined the EU bloc on 1 May.

Peter Schieder, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) stressed that the move to invite the Turkish Cypriots was not the recognition of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognised only by Turkey.

The Council of Europe is the continent's oldest political organisation with 46 European member states - Turkey has been a member since the Council was founded in 1949.