British foreign minister makes first visit to Turkey

ANKARA - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband arrived here Tuesday on his first visit to Turkey for talks on bilateral ties and Ankara's bid to join the European Union, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Miliband is scheduled to meet his Turkish counterpart and chief EU negotiator Ali Babacan, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul on Wednesday, before heading home the day after.
Britain has traditionally supported Turkey's efforts to join the EU.
Ankara launched accession talks with the 27-member bloc in October 2005 amid strong popular opposition in Europe to the membership of this relatively large and poor Muslim majority country.
But its bid suffered a serious blow last December when the EU froze talks in eight of the 35 policy areas requiring agreement over Ankara's refusal to fully extend its customs union deal with the bloc to EU-member Cyprus.
Under the freeze, chapters can be opened but not closed until the problem is resolved.
Erdogan, whose Justice and Development Party swept to power for a second five-year term in snap elections on July 22, said last week his new government would press on with reforms aimed at strengthening the country's EU bid.
han/ar

09/04/2007 20:31 GMT