ANKARA, Dec 8 (AFP) - Turkey, miffed by what it sees as constantly shifting goalposts as the moment of truth approaches in its bid to join the European Union, is on a diplomatic offensive to explain why it believes it is being badly done by.
The mood here was morose Wednesday, two days after officials discovered that a second draft of the invitation to membership talks EU leaders are expected to extend to Turkey at their December 16-17 Brussels summit not only ignored earlier Turkish complaints, but had more caveats than the first version.
Full details of the document were not known, but news reports said mention of member states' "capacity to absorb" eventual Turkish membership was one new item, which officials here feared would open the door to an unprecedented flood of national referenda when the time comes for Turkey to join the European club.
The second draft of conclusions prepared for the summit by the Netherlands, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, was reported to also leave open the key question of when membership negotiations should be launched.
It maintains a provision for the suspension of talks in case Turkey violates basic EU tenets and explicitly singles out torture among key points of concern that should be closely monitored, officials said.
Turkey deems that it has fulfilled all the political conditions -- the so-called Copenhagen criteria -- needed for accession negotiations to begin and has a favorable October 6 report by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, to back up its claim.
It did not hesitate to express its unhappiness at the drafts -- while acknowledging that they will continue to change until the last minute -- it judges to be too harsh compared with the findings of the earlier document.
"We have difficulties in understanding (the changes)... There are certain points which are disturbing and we have put forward our arguments," a senior government official said after talks Tuesday between Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and visiting Dutch European affairs minister Atzo Nikolai.
Furthermore, he complained: "Turkey's objections to some points in the first draft have been addressed on a negligible scale."
"The new version of the draft is even more unfavorable" than the first, Gul said Wednesday. "There are tensions."
Gul Tuesday night cancelled a scheduled joint press conference with Nikolai, but told journalists that Turkey was "standing fast" in the face of harsh conditions Brussels is trying to impose.
"The (negotiating) process continues," Gul's spokesman, Namik Tan, said Wednesday. "Intense consultations are under way and it is too early to draw any definite conclusions."
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and the Chief of General Staff Hilmi Ozkok also joined the fray Tuesday night, a statement announcing after they met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Gul that Turkey expects the EU to set a date for talks in 2005, with no strings attached.
Erdogan is scheduled to make his final pre-summit foray to Europe Thursday, when he flies to Brussels for talks with his Dutch counterpart Jan Peter Balkenende and the new EU commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn.
Rehn will also meet Gul, who flew Wednesday afternoon to Brussels where he will explain to his German, British and Spanish counterparts in the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers' meeting "our opinions and expectations," Tan said.
12/08/2004 14:36 GMT - AFP