BRUSSELS, Oct 6 (AFP) - The EU's decision, due Wednesday, on whether or not to start membership talks with Turkey comes four decades after the signing of a agreement of association between Ankara and Brussels.
Following is a chronology of the ups and downs in Turkey's march towards EU membership.
- September 1963: Turkey signs an association agreement with the European Economic Community with provisions for a gradual lowering of customs barriers as a preliminary to full membership of the EEC, precursor of the European Union.
- 1980-1986: The association is suspended following a military coup in Turkey.
- April 1987: Turkey applies for EU membership.
- December 1989: The European Commission rejects Turkey's application, citing economic and political difficulties.
- March 1995: Ankara and Brussels sign an agreement on a customs union, providing for the removal of import duties and closer economic cooperation. The customs union, which comes into effect in January 1996, encounters financial difficulties, largely on account of reservations by Athens.
- July 1997: The European Commission recommends opening membership talks with five eastern European countries and Cyprus but excluding Turkey. Turkey's human rights record is considered a major obstacle to membership.
- December 12-13, 1997: The 15 EU heads of state and government confirm their decision to enlarge the Union to several eastern European countries and Cyprus, but persist in excluding Turkey.
- December 14, 1997: Ankara breaks off political dialogue with the European Union, in particular over issues relating to Greece and Cyprus.
- October 1999: The European Commission recommends including Turkey in the list of candidate members, extended to six eastern European countries and Malta, but without entering into negotiations for membership.
- December 1999: Turkey is granted candidate status at an EU summit at Helsinki. But the EU says negotiations will not begin until Turkey meets certain democracy and human rights conditions.
- Turkey is in the meantime invited as an observer at EU summits, and also participates in a convention which drafted a first-ever EU constitution, designed as a rule-book to avoid institutional paralysis in the expanding bloc.
- December 2002: EU leaders meeting in Copenhagen pledged to take a decision in December 2004 on whether or not to start EU accession negotiations with Ankara. If approved, the talks would start "without delay," it said.
The EU heads of government agreed that they would base their decision on recommendations made by the European Commission due to be published Wednesday.