WASHINGTON, December 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday, December 10, that he stands "side by side" with Turkey in its bid to join the European Union, with the E.U. backing French-German proposal on starting membership talks in 2005.

"We join you, side by side, in your desire to become a member of the European Union," said Bush, who hoped to secure Turkey's support in the event of U.S.-led military action against Iraq, after a meeting with the popular leader of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP) Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan, speaking through an interpreter, said Turkey viewed accession to the European Union as "the most important modernization project of our country since the establishment of the republic."

Joining the 15-member union would be "a great jump-start for enhancement of democracy," said Erdogan.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz were all present for the meeting, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In a related development, the European Union "overwhelmingly" supported a Franco-German proposal to begin E.U. membership talks with Turkey in 2005 if the country is in suitable shape, Germany said Tuesday.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said his E.U. colleagues had been "overwhelmingly positive" in talks Monday, December 9, about the offer to open talks in July 2005, which depends on the European Commission giving a favorable review of Turkey's bid in 2004.

"There was a very large majority which could back this proposal," Fischer told reporters in Brussels, clarifying the support from the 15 E.U. members as "double-digit".

"I hope Turkey will see how far the door has opened," he added.

The E.U.'s Danish presidency said the Copenhagen summit would take up the proposal by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac.

"We'll make a good text for Turkey in Copenhagen," promised Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller.

"The [German-French] proposal will be an inspiration for us, but I cannot tell you what will be in the final text," he told a news conference, adding the E.U. needed to see implementation of reforms announced recently by Turkey.

Turkey took a major leap forward in August with a series of ground-breaking reforms, among them the abolition of the death penalty and cultural freedom for the Kurds.

Ankara argues the reforms justify a start date for accession talks, four years after the country officially became an E.U. candidate.

"Turkey wants to have its justified place in the enlargement process," Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul told a parliamentary meeting of his Justice and Development party.

"We want a concrete date from the Copenhagen summit," he added.

"If injustice is done against Turkey at Copenhagen, it would be a political decision by E.U. leaders.

"If they employ tricks and pretexts against our clear, honest, determined and courageous behavior, it would be their own decision."

Britain, Italy and Spain favor opening E.U. membership talks with Turkey immediately after the proposed European Commission review in 2004, rather than waiting to 2005, Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio said.

"It does not make any sense, this intermediate period between Turkey accomplishing the Copenhagen criteria and beginning the negotiations," she told reporters here.

"The date could be 2004, but we have to have a consensus among the 15."

Four years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, an E.U. summit in the Danish capital in June 1993 agreed on tough criteria to judge when the newly liberated nations of eastern Europe would be ready to join the Union.

The Copenhagen criteria require a country to have stable institutions "guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law [and] human rights", a "functioning market economy" and the ability to comply with E.U. law "through appropriate administrative and judicial structures".

Unlike the 10 candidates set to receive their accession invitations at this week's summit, Turkey appears a long way off from meeting those exacting demands, according to Brussels.

A Commission report in October said Turkey had made "considerable progress" but "had not fulfilled the political criteria" necessary to start E.U. negotiations.

Gul counter-argues however that Turkey has "fulfilled the Copenhagen political criteria."

On Monday, December 2, the United States leaned hard on the E.U. to open its doors to Turkey, saying it would be a crucial step to encouraging democratic reform in the Muslim world.

Wolfowitz, speaking in London, conceded it was up to E.U. leaders - not Washington - to decide if and when to open accession talks with Ankara.

But he left no doubt that the United States' strategic interests would be best served if Turkey were to take its place in the European Union.

"It really is impossible to overstate how decisive this period is," he said, referring to the EU summit in Copenhagen that will address the Turkish question.

"The Turks are striving to develop a free and democratic and tolerant society that could be a useful model for others in the Muslim world," said Wolfowitz at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

"It is the great good fortune for NATO and the West, indeed of the world, that Turkey - one of the strongest, most reliable, most self-reliant of allies - occupies one of the most strategic crossroads of the world," he said.

A breakthrough on Turkey at Copenhagen, he said, would be "to the benefit not only of Turkey and of Europe, but to the entire world - including my country."

"History suggests that a European Union that welcomes Turkey will be even stronger, safer and more richly diverse than it is today," Wolfowitz said.