WASHINGTON - Turkey should look beyond the European Union, currently in the throes of an internal crisis, and turn more toward the United States, US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said Tuesday.
"I would suggest it's important for Turkey reform orientation to look beyond the European Union to a global context," said Zoellick speaking here at a conference on US-Turkey relations.
Zoellick noted several EU members' recent failure to endorse the constitution as "one of the twists in the integration process within Eurasia."
Both France and The Netherlands have recently voted against the EU constitution, and Britain said it was suspending its own plans for a referendum.
Noting Washington's longterm support for Turkey's accession to the European Union, Zoellick said that "but at the same time I suggest that it's important that our bilateral ties not be too constrained by the effort at EU accession."
"The European Union is clearly important to Turkey's future, but so are the countries of the broader Middle East," he said.
"Considering the international economy, it's important for Turkey to recognize that it will be operating in a global environment," said Zoellick.
"I think it's going to take some time for the Europeans to sort through this themselves and reflect on where they go from here and the implications.
"My suggesion is that as Turkey moves forward, obviously it wants to have good relations with Europe, the US, but it needs to have a 360 degree perspective," he said.
"My hope is that as Turkey looks to its own future, the connections that is has with Europe, which are very important, need to be complemented by a global perspecitive, and that's why I think the partnership with the United States becomes particularly valuable," he said.
"The US is still a unique country in terms of its global reach around the world."
06/07/2005 22:20 GMT