December 20, 2002	Friday	Shawwal 15, 1423

BERLIN, Dec 19: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called Thursday for Turkey to be allowed into the European Union because of its bridge between east and west, despite EU leaders refusing to set a date for entry talks.

“Turkey can, if its people want, be an important bridge, perhaps the most important, between continental Europe and the eastern Mediterranean,” he told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.

He said it should be “possible, if not indeed necessary,” for Turkey to find its place in Europe both for reasons of history and political reality in the 21st century.

Schroeder’s comments came as he briefed parliament on the result of the EU summit in Copenhagen at the end of last week.

At the summit, the leaders said they would meet in December 2004 to review Turkey’s progress toward meeting the EU’s entry criteria, notably on democracy and human rights.

Only then, if the review was positive, would they give a date for the start of membership talks

Schroeder reiterated that Ankara would have to continue its reforms.

At the same time, he warned against depicting its membership claim as that of a mainly Muslim country trying to break into a mainly Christian group.

It was “wrong and dangerous” to assume Muslims would not fit in, Schroeder went on, saying they were already “part of daily life” in all EU states.

With some 2.5 million Turks, Germany is home to one of the largest Turkish expatriate communities anywhere in the world, thanks mainly to a 1960s “guest worker” programme.

The chancellor has been one of Ankara’s strongest supporters in its claim, despite resistance from opposition conservative circles.—AFP