STRASBOURG (AFP) - Talks on Turkey's accession to the EU should begin in the first half of 2005 and lead to membership in a "reasonable period of time," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
Speaking to the parliamentary assembly of the 46-member Council of Europe, Erdogan urged European Union leaders to respond positively to Wednesday's report from the commission in Brussels recommending the opening of accession negotiations.
"We hope to bring a long-travelled road to its final lap with the initiation of accession negotiations in the first half of 2005," he said.
"Turkey's membership will not be realized overnight. Certainly Turkey anticipates concluding this phase within a reasonable period of time. To this end, we in Turkey will fulfill our share.
"We are confident that the positive tone set by the commission report and recommendation will be matched by the political will on the part of the leadership of the member states of the Union," Erdogan said.
The Council of Europe was set up in 1949 to promote human rights and parliamentary democracy in post-war Europe. It has no formal link with the EU.
Erdogan told the assembly that Turkey plans to ratify the Rome statute instituting the International Criminal Court, the body charged with trying genocide and crimes against humanity.
He also urged the international community to lift its boycott of the self-declared Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus, after Turkish Cypriots voted in a referendum six months ago in favour of a UN-backed reunification plan for the island. The plan was rejected by Greek Cypriots.
The European Commission on Wednesday recommended that the EU start membership talks with Turkey, but set a series of tough conditions warning there was no guarantee of a successful outcome.
"There is clearly the possibility that Turkey can become a member, but the negotiations, and this is very important, are open-ended," Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler said.