ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul rejected any link between his country`s bid to join the European Union and the French "no" in a referendum on the EU constitution Sunday, arguing that the bloc`s decision to begin accession talks with the mainly Muslim country was irreversible.
In comments before exit polls said French voters massively rejected the charter, Gul brushed aside concerns that the result would cloud Turkey`s drive to become a member of the 25-nation bloc.
"None of this is true," he was quoted by Anatolia news agency as telling reporters on a plane taking him to Bahrain for an official visit.
"The outcome ... does not concern Turkey in the least," he said.
Gul acknowleged that the French "no" could trigger a debate in Europe on Turkey`s EU bid, but argued that an EU decision in October to start membership talks with Ankara could not be altered due to political or legal changes in an EU-member country.
"The EU has already made its decision. Governments and political parties will always come and go in the European Union. None of this will affect us," Gul said.
According to three exit polls released as voting closed at 10 pm (0800 GMT), the French electorate voted by about 56 percent to 45 to turn down the constitution.
The vote is believed to have been swayed at least in part by public opposition to Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim and relatively poor country of some 70 million people, joining the EU.
In theory, the EU decision to begin membership talks with Turkey is irreversible since all EU states have signed up to it, but the French rejection has plunged the bloc into unprecedented crisis and means that it could spend years rethinking its overall strategic direction.
Many here are also worried that the outcome will increase anti-Turkish sentiment in Europe.
But Gul argued that membership talks with the European Union would begin as planned as long as Turkey fulfilled a number of tough conditions set by the bloc in its December decision.
"It is in our hands to begin accession talks," the minister said underlining that Turkey had to work with determination to fully embrace and implement EU norms.

05/29/2005 21:56 GMT