WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke Wednesday with his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, on Turkey`s EU accession, which could benefit from strong US backing.
"The secretary spoke this morning with foreign minister Gul, just to, kind of, check in and see where things are," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
"I think foreign minister Gul is already in Brussels working with the European Union there. And we`ll continue to keep in touch with Turkish leaders on the subject," he told reporters.
The European Union is waiting to give its approval to Turkey`s negotiated accession during a summit to open late Thursday in Brussels.
In Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, no stranger to hard bargaining, stood firm on the eve of the Brussels summit.
"We do not expect any unacceptable conditions to be put before us, but if such conditions are imposed ... we will definitely put the matter in the refrigerator and continue on our way," he said before heading for Brussels.
Ankara notably wants the EU talks to start in the first half of 2005, as opposed to later next year as sought by some EU states. It has also dismissed an offer of a "privileged partnership" as an alternative to full EU entry.
Turkey has also repeatedly rejected calls to give formal recognition to the government in Cyprus.
Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied the northern third of the island in response to a coup engineered by the then-ruling military junta in Athens to unite the country with Greece.
Only the Greek-Cypriot south has been able to enjoy the benefits of EU membership since the island joined the bloc on May 1, after Greek Cypriots rejected a UN blueprint to reunify Cyprus.
In Brussels the EU has sought to maintain pressure on Ankara to recognize Cyprus -- by signing a formal EU diplomatic agreement which amounts to a de facto recognition.
"Otherwise we will have a problem with Cyprus, that`s absolutely clear," said an EU presidency source.
Although Washington has long favored Turkey`s entry into the European Union, Boucher did not offer to take a position on how that would happen, saying that the two sides would have to work out the details.
When asked if recognition of a "genocide" of Armenians in 1915 by Turkey should be an EU demand for entry, he said, "As the secretary said about four times last week: All these matters are matters for the Europeans to decide.
"We believe that Turkey has gone a long way in meeting the requirements of membership and the requests that were asked of Turkey, and it will be for the Europeans to make that judgment themselves."
12/15/2004 21:11 GMT - AFP