PARIS: France will hold a referendum on Turkey's entry into the EU when the issue arises, and any further EU enlargement will also be subject to a popular vote, President Jacques Chirac has said.

All member states will have to give their blessing before Turkey is allowed to join the EU, so Mr Chirac has in effect given the French people the power of veto - at an unspecified time - on Turkish accession.

The president's support for a referendum is aimed at preventing French anxieties about Turkish membership from influencing another referendum, on the EU constitution, that is to be held next year.

By separating the two issues, Mr Chirac has weakened the power of the no vote on the constitution, reducing but not eliminating the likelihood of France opposing it. The new constitution, like Turkish accession, could not happen if France did not back it.

His announcement comes just days after an opinion poll revealed that the majority of French adults were opposed to Turkey's immediate entry, concerned about a wave of immigration and its effect on jobs - and reluctant to embrace such a large and mainly Muslim country.

Mr Chirac is a supporter of Turkish accession, but many of his colleagues in the ruling UMP party are not.

The prime minister, Jean Pierre Raffarin, encapsulated French concerns last week when he asked: "Do we want the river of Islam to enter the riverbed of secularism?"

There have also been calls for a referendum from theextremely popular finance minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the foreign minister, Michel Barnier.

After talks with the German chancellor, Gerhard Schroder, in Strasbourg, Mr Chirac said: "Let me reassure you right away: the French people will have their say."

He said Turkey was not likely to be in a position to join the EU for 10 to 15 years. He had asked the government to prepare a constitutional amendment to guarantee that any enlargement of the EU - after the entry of Romania, Bulgaria or Croatia, which is already under way - should be put to a public vote rather than decided by parliament.

He stressed that next year's vote on the EU constitution would have "nothing to do with Turkey".

The Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, said simply: "May it be for the best."

This week's opinion poll showed that although 56 per cent of French people were hostile to the idea of Turkey joining immediately, 63 per cent would support Turkey's entry in the future if it made the necessary political and economic changes.

The European commission is expected to recommend in a report next Wednesday that the EU opens membership talks with Turkey, with a precise start date being given when EU leaders meet in December.-Dawn/The Guardian News Service.