05 October 2004	Tuesday	19 Shaban 1425

ANKARA/BRUSSELS, Oct 4: Turkey signalled growing unease on Monday that the European Union wants to impose special conditions on its drive to join the wealthy bloc and insisted it must be treated in the same way as any other candidate country.

Underscoring Europe's worries about admitting the large, Muslim country, the EU's incoming enlargement chief said Turkey should face tougher monitoring on human rights and possibly permanent safeguards against an influx of migrant labour.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, will deliver its verdict on Wednesday on whether Turkey now meets the bloc's political and human rights criteria and is thus ready to begin what are expected to be long and complex accession talks.

EU sources in Brussels said the Commission would give a green light to negotiations, but would also stress that eventual membership was not automatic and that the talks could be halted if Turkey was thought to be rowing back on reforms.

"There can be no question of special conditions concerning Turkey," Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters. "There can be no question of the EU suspending anything in a special way regarding Turkey." But the Commission must contend with public hostility in many EU member states to admitting Turkey. EU leaders will have the final say at a December summit on whether to open talks.

In Brussels, Enlargement Commissioner-designate Olli Rehn said on Monday, Turkey must be given a chance but stressed the need for safeguards. He told a confirmation hearing if accession talks began, "we definitely will need a strong monitoring mechanism in order to monitor Turkey's commitments concerning human rights and the rights of minorities ... and the rule of law".

To prevent the risk of mass labour migration, he said: "We must consider transition periods as concerns free movement of labour and ... a permanent safeguard clause in this field."

Rehn said Turkey was taking the problem of torture seriously and "a lot of progress has been made in the last few years". "The Turkish government is conducting a systematic fight against torture," he said. "Last year altogether 2,500 cases were investigated, 850 people were convicted and 138 were imprisoned."

NOT BEFORE 2015: The EU sources said Wednesday's report would assume 2015 as the earliest realistic date at which Turkey might join, signalling a much longer negotiation process than for the central European states which joined the bloc this year.

The Commission will also state that policy "chapters" in the negotiations will only be closed when Turkey has implemented EU law in each area and not as soon as it has reached agreement on how to do so - a departure from previous practice.

Gul said Turkey expected fair treatment. "If there are rules for all countries, then of course they are binding on everybody...," he said. Senior European Commission officials met on Monday afternoon to finalize the wording of the report which the full 30-member executive will discuss on Wednesday.

Aides said Commission President Romano Prodi was determined to get a decision by consensus, despite the opposition of some in his outgoing team, notably Dutch Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein and Austrian farm chief Franz Fischler.

A senior Turkish official said in Ankara he expected Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Gul to mount a charm campaign, focusing especially on countries such as France and Austria seen as at best lukewarm about Turkey's bid.

He thought negotiations were likely to start in the second half of 2005, when Britain - an advocate of Turkish membership - holds the EU's rotating presidency. -Reuters