ANKARA, Sept 7 (AFP) - Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is due to make a five-day trip starting Wednesday to the Baltic countries to bolster support for Ankara's bid to join the European Union, the foreign ministry said.
The visit comes at a crucial time for Ankara, as the European Commission prepares to publish its recommendations next month on whether the EU should begin entry negotiations with the vast, mainly-Muslim country.
Gul will first travel to Estonia for talks with his counterpart Kristiina Ojuland, President Arnold Ruutel and Prime Minister Juhan Parts, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
From there, he will head to Latvia on Friday for two days of talks on the state of EU-Turkey relations with his counterpart Artis Pabriks and President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.
The final leg of his tour will take him to Lithuania, for meetings with President Valdas Adamkus, Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas and Foreign Minister Antanas Valinonis.
EU enlargement chief Guenter Verheugen is in Turkey this week on an official visit, ahead of the commission's key report assessing whether Ankara has made progress in fulfilling the EU's political criteria.
EU leaders have pledged to decide at a summit in December whether or not to open negotiations with Turkey on joining the bloc, which expanded from 15 to 25 members in May and aims to admit Romania and Bulgaria in 2007.