18 December 2004	Saturday	05 Ziqa'ad 1425

BRUSSELS, Dec 17: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday agreeing to sign a text extending his country's association agreement with the European Union to include Cyprus did not mean recognition of its government.

Turkey almost walked away from a historic deal to open entry talks with the EU earlier on Friday because it refused to move towards recognition of the internationally accepted Greek Cypriot government, itself an EU member since May.

Ankara recognizes only a breakaway Turkish Cypriot enclave in the north of the island and insists it cannot recognize the Greek Cypriot south until a peace settlement has been reached.

"The extension of the (association) agreement to 25 new EU member countries (including Cyprus) is a technical procedure," Mr Erdogan said at a news conference after the historic summit. "This adaptation protocol is in no way a recognition (of the Greek Cypriot government)," he said.

The accord clinched on Friday envisages Turkey starting EU entry talks on Oct 3 next year, and it is expected to sign the protocol by that date. "This calendar is not only a period when we integrate with the EU laws and institutions but also a period when we will be able to change the nature of many disputes we have had to deal with up until now," Mr Erdogan added, striking an optimistic note.

Mr Erdogan said Turkey was ready to cooperate in any UN-led drive to revive the Cyprus reunification process, which has stalled since Greek Cypriots rejected a UN peace plan in a referendum last April.

The Greek Cypriots have so far blocked EU efforts to lift international trade restrictions on their northern neighbours, who strongly backed the UN plan.

EU EXPANSION: The European Union gave the final green light on Friday to the second wave of its eastern enlargement, inviting Bulgaria and Romania to join the bloc in 2007 and agreeing to open entry talks with Croatia next March.

"Today, Bulgaria saw the shores of the promised land. After a long journey, our efforts have been rewarded," said Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy, vowing hard work to complete reforms required by the EU.

The EU summit was a moment of joy for Bulgaria and Romania, bringing them to the threshold of the bloc's zone of prosperity and security, and unlocking billions of euros in aid.

EU leaders agreed to sign the accession treaty with Sofia and Bucharest next April and launch entry talks with Croatia, possibly on March 17, if the ex-Yugoslav republic cooperated with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

"We have reached important conclusions for the future of Europe. In 2005, we will start accession talks with Croatia and Turkey ... and in 2007 Bulgaria and Romania should be new members," European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said after the end of the summit in Brussels.

Both Bulgaria and Romania agreed their entry could be delayed to 2008 from 2007 if they failed to implement agreed reforms on fighting corruption, strengthening borders, beefing up the judicial system and ending illegal state aid to industry.

The two countries missed the first wave of the EU's expansion into ex-communist eastern Europe in May when 10 countries joined. Their accession has been delayed because they were slower than others to shake off their pre-1989 communist legacy.

The EU will closely monitor progress in reforms, and it can temporarily exclude the countries from one or more policy areas for three years after 2007 if they implement reforms too slowly.

Croatia wanted an unconditional date for entry talks, but the summit proposed to keep up the pressure on Zagreb to catch General Ante Gotovina and hand him over to the tribunal.

The launch of Croatia's accession talks had been thrown into doubt when chief war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte told the UN Security Council last month that Zagreb had failed to cooperate sufficiently in catching Gotovina.

Gotovina, seen as a hero of the country's 1991-95 war of independence, has been in hiding since he was indicted in 2001, accused of ordering massacres against Croatian Serbs in 1995.

The EU would prepare a detailed strategy for membership talks with Croatia, the Balkan nation of 4.4 million, with the view to opening them in March, provided "there was cooperation with ICTY", the summit statement said.

"We still have to solve this one case and I hope that we will do that very soon, that General Gotovina will realize any further delays will damage both him and Croatia," Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said in Brussels. -Reuters