ANKARA, Dec 3 (AFP) - Belgium wants a speedy and unambiguous start to membership talks between the European Union and Turkey, visiting Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said here Friday.
"We made it very clear that we want Turkey to become a member of the EU," De Gucht told a joint press conference here with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul. "These negotiations should be opened as soon as possible."
The decision on whether to start the process will be taken at a December 16-17 summit of EU leaders in Brussels, and De Gucht said the decision to come of the meeting should be very clear.
"The big problem that we are now facing is how we are going to phrase the decision... some of the wording is still vague," he said. "We must be very clear, and this wording should be understood in the same way, in the same manner, by both sides.
"If there is confusion on that, that will be a big political mistake," he said.
The decision, he said, should be unambiguous and close the door to any possible divergence from the goal of full membership to formulas such as "privileged partnership," which Turkey's EU opponents want to introduce.
He received full support from Gul, who said: "The talks must aim for Turkey's full membership and no other alternatives."
An EU decision to invite Turkey to the talks, the Belgian said, would have a further positive impact on the implementation of the reform process Turkey has undertaken over the past two years to bring its standards up to those of the Union.
"Turkey has sufficiently fulfilled the Copenhagen criteria," De Grucht said, referring to the set of political and democratic standards all EU-hopeful countries must abide by.
"We very much welcome reforms in the human rights and democratization areas and these should be continued when the negotiations are opened," he said, making special mention of minority rights and efforts to eradicate the ill-treatment and torture of prisoners.
12/03/2004 14:29 GMT - AFP