| Posted on the off-chance that the Turks have a ghost of an opportunity to join the EU. |
Volkan Bozkir, Turkey’s ambassador to the EU, said Ankara would respond to last month’s setback by “accelerating” reforms, so that it was ready to join the EU when the political climate changed. Mr Bozkir told the Financial Times that Ankara had taken the latest blow to its accession prospects in a “calm and professional way”. He said: “It shows Turkey wants to maintain its relationship with the EU. “It would have been easy for Turkey to react strongly and to freeze part of its relationship or to express some kind of broken-hearted psychology.”
In December the EU suspended membership talks in eight policy areas because of Turkey’s refusal to open its ports to Cyprus – an EU member since 2004 – whose Greek Cypriot government Ankara refuses to recognise.
Last week Abdullah Gul, TurkeyÂ’s foreign minister, convened more than 150 senior officials from different government departments to order them to draw up detailed legislative plans to prepare the country for EU membership.
Mr Bozkir said legislative plans for the years up until 2013 would be submitted by the end of January and would then be prioritised, with the aim of bringing the countryÂ’s laws and norms up to EU standards. The plan would cover 32 outstanding subject areas of the membership negotiations, including the eight frozen last month. He hoped preparatory work would be almost complete when the EU finally decided to open detailed talks.