BRUSSELS, Dec 16 (AFP) - The European Union is expected to start membership talks with Turkey next October 17-18, an EU diplomat said Thursday, as EU leaders met to discuss giving a green light to Ankara`s bid to join the bloc.
The diplomat gave no more details, and a spokesman for the European Union`s Dutch presidency could not confirm the date.
According to the EU`s usual calendar of meeting, the date would probably coincide with a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, shortly ahead of the traditional autumn EU summit.
At that point Britain will be holding the EU`s six-month rotating presidency.
Turkey wants the talks to start in April 2005, but most diplomats have indicated that the negotiations -- expected to last at least a decade -- will start in the second half of the year.
As EU leaders held dinner talks at the start of the two-day EU summit, the Dutch spokesman said: "I cannot confirm anything because as I understand it we haven`t even begun to discuss Turkey yet.
"There`s certainly no presidency proposal to that end," he said of the October date.
12/16/2004 20:23 GMT - AFP