ROME,
November 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
leader of the Islamic-based party set to form a new government in
Turkey, arrived in Rome Wednesday, November 13, at the start of a
European tour to win support for Ankara's E.U. membership campaign.
On
his first trip abroad since his Justice and Development (AK) party swept
to victory in an election 10 days ago, Erdogan is seeking to increase
the pressure for next month's E.U. summit in Copenhagen to set a firm
date for the start of accession negotiations, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
said.
"If
a date is not given in Copenhagen, the trust of the Turkish people in
Europe will be ruined," Erdogan warned in an interview published by
Italy's La Repubblica ahead of his arrival in Rome.
He
said he had chosen Italy as the first stop on his tour because of the
support for Ankara's E.U. bid expressed by Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi, whom Erdogan is due to meet during his one-day visit.
Erdogan's
AK party has pledged to make Ankara's E.U. bid a top priority when it
forms a new government.
Muslim-dominated
Turkey, already a NATO member, lodged its official bid to join the E.U.
in 1987, eventually obtaining formal candidate status at a 1999 summit
in Helsinki.
But
the E.U. has yet to give a date for membership negotiations, which
Ankara wants to begin in 2003 after adopting a series of human rights
reforms demanded by Brussels.
On
Friday, former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who chairs a
convention mapping out a strategic vision for the E.U., sparked
controversy when he said the admission of Turkey and its 68 million
citizens would be "the end of the European Union."
Erdogan
rejected his comments as "inopportune," saying Turkish opinion
polls showed between 75-80 percent backing for E.U. membership - greater
than in any of its member states.
The
AK leader is scheduled to travel to Spain and Greece November 18-19 and
a party official said Turkey was also trying to arrange a trip to both
London and Brussels November 20, to meet British Prime Minister Tony
Blair and European Commission President Romano Prodi.
He
is being accompanied by Yasar Yakis, a former ambassador and deputy
party leader who is tipped to become foreign minister in the new
government.
E.U.
foreign policy chief Javier Solana is due to travel to Ankara Thursday,
November 14, to discuss the finalization of an E.U.-NATO accord with
Erdogan, as well as the latest developments on the divided island of
Cyprus.
The
NATO-E.U. accord has long been blocked amid a row between Turkey and
E.U. member Greece over control of military assets.
Hopes
for progress on Cyprus, one of the 10 countries set to be formally
invited to join the E.U. in 2004, have been raised by a new peace plan
for the Mediterranean island launched by U.N. chief Kofi Annan this
week.
"Resolving
the Cyprus problem would mean accelerating Turkey's E.U. accession
process and overcoming many of the difficulties between Ankara and
Athens," Erdogan told La Repubblica.
The
AK party has not yet formed a government, and has pledged to scrap a
constitutional rule barring Erdogan from taking prime ministerial office
because of an earlier conviction for sedition.
