The TimesDecember 16, 2006
Tony Blair before leaving Brussels yesterday on his way to Turkey. He's a strong ally of Turkey. (Frances Leader/AP)
Blair seeks alliance with Turkey
David Charter and Rory Watson in Brussels
**He says door to EU must stay open
**Moderate Islam 'key to Middle East'
Countries in favour of Turkey joining the EU: Britain, Germany, France, Poland, Italy, United States.
Countries against Turkey joining the EU: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus
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Tony Blair flew to Turkey last night to bolster its case for joining the European Union and give a boost to moderate Muslims before a direct appeal to Middle East leaders to ease tension in the West Bank.
As Mr Blair left Brussels, the 18 nations that have signed the EU constitution sprang a surprise by announcing their own summit in Madrid in January to work out how to resurrect the document — a move seen as an attempt to hijack the debate and put pressure on Britain and others to sign up to a revived text next year.
Downing Street said that the clashes between rival Palestinian groups yesterday demonstrated the importance of encouraging a moderate, secular Turkey to join the EU so that it could continue to act as a force for reform in the area.
Mr Blair will tell Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, that the door to Europe remains firmly open despite agreement at an EU summit yesterday partly to freeze accession talks as a punishment for Turkey’s failure to open trade with Cyprus.
He has said that he will also talk to Mahmoud Abbas, the head of Fatah and the President of the Palestinian Authority, about forming a government that includes Hamas to release substantial EU funding. And he plans to speak to Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister.
Mr Blair told the Labour conference that he would do all he could to bring peace to the Middle East, which he sees as part of his legacy once he leaves office next year. Speaking in Brussels yesterday, he said: “For the broader global interests of the EU and also Britain, it is important that we continue the process to accession with Turkey and we do not shut the door to Turkey’s membership.
“We recognise this has got an importance not just in relation to Turkey but to wider relationships between the West and the Muslim world. It is also part, at least, of the backdrop to the broader Middle East and in particular to trying to make sure that, if there is any way possible at all, we should try to achieve a Palestinian government with which we and the rest of the world can deal.”
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, called this month for a strict deadline to be imposed on Turkey to meet its obligations to Cyprus but, having lost the argument, Germany seems to be softening its attitude. Mrs Merkel told the German parliament on Thursday that she supported Turkey’s eventual EU membership.
Although she had wanted to ignore Turkey during her six-month presidency of the EU, which starts on January 1, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the Foreign Minister, said yesterday that he would work hard to end the trade dispute with Cyprus and to secure EU funding for Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus.
Mrs Merkel also pledged to work hard on redrawing the failed EU constitutional treaty and announced that she has asked every country to appoint a special representative to negotiate the way forward for an eventual solution by the end of 2008. She faced an ambush, however, from the countries that have already ratified the original document. Luxembourg and Spain proposed forming an 18-nation pressure group to campaign “for the substance of the text which we ratified”.
In a letter announcing a “friends of the constitution” summit of the 18 in Madrid on January 26, they added: “The goal of this meeting is to make an assessment of the situation in our countries and act together on the road to take.”
Britain, along with France and the Netherlands, which rejected the constitution in referendums, will not be invited. But they will be asked to a follow-up summit in February, another idea seen as provocative and divisive by the countries that have yet to ratify the constitution. Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch Prime Minister, said: “The charter in its current form is unacceptable. This [plan] should not be allowed to gather momentum.”
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