BRUSSELS, Dec 9 (AFP) - European Union leaders will decide next Thursday whether to launch entry talks with Turkey. The following is a chronology of the ups and downs in Turkey's four-decade-long 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, the precursor of the European Union.
- 1980-1986: The association agreement is suspended following a military coup in Turkey.
- April 1987: Turkey applies for EU membership.
- December 1989: The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, 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 because of reservations by Athens.
- July 1997: The European Commission recommends opening membership talks with five eastern European countries and Cyprus but excluding Turkey. Ankara's human rights record is considered a major obstacle to membership.
- December 12-13, 1997: The 15 EU leaders 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 EU, in particular over issues relating to Greece and Cyprus.
- October 1999: The European Commission recommends including Turkey in the list of candidate members, which is extended to six eastern European countries and Malta, but without a start date for membership negotiations.
- December 1999: Turkey is granted candidate status at an EU summit in the Finnish capital 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 to EU summits, and also takes part in discussions to draft a first-ever EU constitution, designed as a framework for avoiding institutional paralysis in the expanding bloc.
- December 2002: EU leaders meeting in Copenhagen pledge to take a decision in December 2004 on whether to start EU accession negotiations with Ankara. If approved, the talks would start "without delay," they said. They agree to base their decision on European Commission recommendations.
- October 6, 2004: The European Commission recommends that membership talks start, but sets a series of tough conditions and warns that the process could be suspended if Ankara is guilty of serious and persistent breaches of basic EU standards on democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
12/09/2004 13:11 GMT - AFP