Turkey and the EU: hurtful uncertainty

Şevket Pamuk | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

"Turkey and the EU: hurtful uncertainty

Turkish accession has stalled – yet the community needs the political advantages of Turkey's membership more than ever

European Union leaders are meeting in Brussels this week to mark the end of Sweden's presidency. One item high on their agenda will be to review relations with Turkey.

The EU formally accepted Turkey as a candidate for membership at the end of 2004. Soon after that, however, leaders in France and Germany began declaring that Turkey should never be accepted as a member. The EU is now unable to say whether Turkey will become a member even if it fulfills the Copenhagen criteria. As the latest progress report prepared by the EU makes clear, Turkey's accession process has been slow under these circumstances. There has been little movement on the leading issues, such as Cyprus. Many chapters of the accession negotiations remain unopened, or blocked by a few EU member states."