CAIRO, Dec 19: The European Union's decision to give Turkey a date for membership talks drew a warm welcome on Sunday from Middle Eastern states keen to see the wealthy European club expand to their doorstep.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan returned from Brussels to a hero's welcome on Saturday, after obtaining the date - October 3, 2005 - for the launch of the negotiations.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit welcomed the prospect of Turkey's integration into the economic superpower, which already counts 25 countries and 455m inhabitants.

"Turkey's accession would bring Europe to Arab borders and Turkey would become the only Muslim country in the EU," he said on Saturday. "Europe on the borders of Syria and Iraq would give a new dimension to Euro-Mediterranean relations."

Turkey still needs to undertake huge efforts to match membership criteria, improve its human rights record, solve its dispute over Cyprus and overcome widespread scepticism among member countries.

In addition to Syria and war-torn Iraq, Turkey's accession would also leave the European Union nestling up against the Islamic Republic of Iran. "We welcome any development which forwards the interests of Turkey, a neighbouring and brotherly country," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters on Sunday.

Jordan's Al-Arab al-Yawm newspaper said Turkish accession would mark a "new and unprecedented reality in history". "The EU will grow and enlarge, reaching Syria, Iraq and Iran in the heart of the Middle East but not as an exclusive Christian club," it said in an editorial.

The Al-Rai daily praised the Turkish premier for securing a start date for negotiations without sacrificing his country's foreign policy priorities and asked why Arab governments were not as successful in their diplomacy.

"Turkey's political activity is bearing fruit and is a strong indicator of an effective, pragmatic and flexible balance between concessions and gains," the paper said. "The question is: where is the Arabs' role in all of this?"

The leader of France's right-wing ruling party, Nicolas Sarkozy - a leading 'Turkosceptic' - asked how the European Union could say no to other Muslim-majority states after saying yes to Turkey. "If we include Turkey, what will we say to other Mediterranean nations - Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia?" asked Sarkozy, who is widely tipped as a future president. -AFP