Turkije wil gesprek met Merkel en Sarkozy over toetreding (en)
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is planning to meet German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss Ankara's bid to join the 27-strong bloc.
Mr Erdogan told reporters about the envisaged meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday (10 January), during his presentation of the Turkish government's plans for 2008.
"The meeting will be held in Germany and the three of us will discuss together the process ahead," Erdogan told a press conference without giving a specific date for the meeting, AFP has reported.
However, according to diplomats quoted by a number of publications, the talks are expected to take place in the first half of the year.
Over the course of the discussions, Turkey is hoping to see some movement regarding EU accession.
"We hope that new chapters [of the membership negotiations] will be opened during Slovenia's presidency," PM Erdogan suggested, referring to the six-month-long period of the ex-Yugoslav country's EU chairmanship.
Turkey has so far opened six out of 35 negotiating chapters since the kick-off of EU membership talks in October 2005, with eight areas blocked from further progress by member states due to Ankara's failure to meet its commitments to Cyprus.
The slow progress in the process is partly due to the reluctance of some key EU players - particularly France - to see the over 70-million-strong Muslim country enter the bloc.
The German chancellor and her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), favour a privileged partnership with Turkey, while the French president has mooted the idea of a Mediterranean Union as an alternative for Ankara.
But Mr Erdogan maintained on Thursday that his country will continue in its efforts to meet Europe's entry criteria for full membership despite the current ambiguous political response from some of its leaders.
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