BERLIN, Dec 14 (AFP) - The German government has spearheaded efforts to bring Turkey into the EU fold, viewing it as a way of reconciling Islam and the West, but its conservative opposition is stepping up efforts to rally European resistance to Ankara's bid.
With the largest Turkish immigrant population in the European Union at 2.8 million, Germany has a vested interest in seeing Turkey build stronger ties to western Europe, and perhaps the most to lose from a divisive debate.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's center-left coalition views Turkey as a potential bridge between the Middle East and Europe, and warned against slamming the door in Ankara's face after some four decades of pledges for greater integration.
The opposition, however, sees Turkey's EU ambitions as rife with danger for the bloc and points to serious reservations in EU member countries such as France, Austria and Cyprus as grounds to pull the brakes on the process.
The head of the Christian Democratic Union, Angela Merkel, said Monday that Turkey's EU hopes could easily become a key issue in the next national election campaign in two years' time and that a government run by the conservatives would lead the charge in Europe against Turkish accession.
"It is an issue we must discuss," she said, renewing her call for a so-called "privileged partnership" with the predominantly Muslim country of 73 million, rather than full membership.
She added that she had invited the new leader of France's ruling party, Nicolas Sarkozy, to Germany in January to coordinate their positions on Ankara. Sarkozy has been vocal in his opposition to Turkish EU membership.
A government spokesman warned Berlin would not stand for the opposition "using the EU membership debate to sow resentment" in Germany against Turkey or the Turkish population here.
An opinion poll in the French daily Le Figaro Monday showed 67 percent of French voters and 55 percent of Germans oppose Turkey joining the EU.
Meanwhile a separate survey printed in Monday's German newsweekly Der Spiegel showed that 49 percent would prefer to start EU membership negotiations with Ukraine versus just 28 percent with Turkey.
The Christian Union (CDU/CSU) currently enjoys a double-digit lead over Schroeder's Social Democrats in German opinion polls.
The increasingly bitter public debate in Germany drew fire from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a weekend newspaper interview. He argued that the opposition was flirting with populism while the EU was setting the bar unfairly high for Ankara.
"Unfortunately, the opposition in Germany seems to believe that it can make a domestic political issue out of our wish to join the European Union," Erdogan told the mass-market Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
"I consider that to be a fateful error."
The remarks sparked anger in the German press Monday, with the conservative daily Die Welt retorting that Erdogan's outburst proved the country was unfit for membership.
"Erdogan's verbal sweeping blow against the EU and the German opposition reveals one thing in particular: Turkey and the EU are not suited to each other," it said.
"There are lots of things that should be discussed with Turkey, EU membership is certainly not one of them," it said, echoing similar comments in right-leaning papers such as the Handelsblatt and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and even center-left dailies such as the Tagesspiegel.
Schroeder, for his part, has worked hard to sell EU leaders on the view that integrating Turkey would allow it to become a model for other Muslim nations that border Europe.
"This is why the membership of Turkey is rightly linked to a hope for peace and security, with implications far beyond Europe," he said.
12/14/2004 13:27 GMT - AFP