BRUSSELS, Dec 17 (AFP) - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expressed his delight at an EU deal to open membership talks with Turkey, saying it had been a surprisingly swift agreement.
"I am very happy. We have worked very hard for it," Schroeder said after EU leaders late Thursday agreed at a summit here to launch accession negotiations with Ankara on October 3 next year.
The chancellor, one of Ankara's biggest allies in its campaign to join the European club, told reporters it had been a "surprisingly quick and very good agreement," although he acknowledged the way ahead would be long -- membership talks are likely to last at least a decade -- and difficult.
Germany is home to the biggest Turkish population in mainland Europe with around 2.8 million Turks, many of them descendants of immigrant guest workers who moved there decades ago.
But a sizeable portion of the German population as well as the conservative opposition parties have deep-seated reservations about Turkey's membership.
Schroeder said he hoped Germans would quickly understand they had more to gain than lose from Ankara's membership, pointing out that Germany was already Turkey's biggest trading partner.
12/17/2004 00:03 GMT - AFP