BERLIN, Sept 24 (AFP) - Germany will support the start of European Union membership talks with Turkey if the EU Commission gives the go-ahead next month, a government spokesman said Friday.
"If the Commission gives a positive judgment on October 6, then the government will come out in favor at the European Union summit in December for the beginning of accession talks," spokesman Bela Anda told reporters.
"That will reinforce the reform process in Turkey and the government is also convinced that Turkey can and will move even closer to the European Union in the process."
A foreign ministry spokeswoman described estimates that the accession process would take 10 to 15 years as "realistic".
Turkey's hopes of starting talks received a major boost Thursday when EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen told reporters in Brussels that he saw "no more obstacles" to doing so.
Verheugen, who is to publish a report of Turkey's progress on October 6, said his concerns over a disputed penal reform bill had been allayed in talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
EU leaders are to decide on December 17 whether to accept the report.
Anda noted that successive German governments had supported the prospect of Turkey joining the EU and criticized some German conservative opposition leaders such as Christian Democratic Union chief Angela Merkel for breaking with that tradition.
Merkel has recently tried to rally support among European conservatives against Turkish EU membership, calling instead for a "privileged partnership" with the bloc.
Meanwhile, the government said that Erdogan would visit Berlin October 3, German unity day, to accept a prize for his pursuit of democratic reforms and meet Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.