BERLIN, Oct 19 (AFP) - The leader of Germany's main opposition conservative movement told visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul here on Tuesday that her party was opposed to his country joining the EU.
Angela Merkel of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) instead told Gul she she would prefer Turkey to have a "privileged partnership" with the European Union, party officials said.
Gul said after the meeting that Turkey would only accept full EU membership. "We have not considered any other goals," he said.
The CDU's position is in sharp contrast to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who has said he will push Turkey's bid to begin membership talks when EU leaders meet in mid-December.
Merkel, whose bid to unseat Schroeder as German leader in elections in 2006 has faltered recently, said she would be enlisting support for her proposal when European conservative leaders meet in Brussels early next month.
However the CDU has abandoned a proposal to launch a petition to rally opposition to predominantly Muslim Turkey's entry into the EU.
In an interview with Tuesday's edition of the Handelsblatt newspaper, Gul described the idea of a petition as "a bomb that could go off in their faces".
The issue is highly sensitive in Germany, which is home to two and a half million Turkish immigrants.
Gul's visit will be followed next Tuesday by that of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who will hold a mini summit with Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac to rally support for Turkey's bid to begin EU talks.
Turkey received a boost to its hopes of membership this month when the EU Commission recommended a start to negotiations, but warned it could be years before the nation of 70 million joins.