March 29, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1428

BRUSSELS: The European Union on Wednesday kick started membership talks with Turkey, which have been at a standstill since June due to Ankara's simmering trade dispute with Cyprus.

EU ambassadors agreed that Turkey could begin negotiations on Thursday on one of the 35 policy chapters that each aspiring country must complete to join the rich European club, officials confirmed. The chapter concerns “enterprise and industry policy”, one diplomat said, on condition of anonymity. The German EU presidency confirmed that the talks would resume but only at a “technical level”.

Turkey's chief EU negotiator Ali Babacan will travel to Brussels to attend. The move comes three months after the EU froze eight of the policy areas to punish the government in Ankara for its failure to fully extend its customs agreement with the bloc to EU member country Cyprus.

Those chapters all concern trade and external relations. When the freeze was announced, the EU also criticised Turkey's human rights record, especially on freedom of religion and women's and minority rights.—AFP