Brussels, 04/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - Turkish Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis will be in Brussels on Thursday for dinner with Javier Solana. Friday morning, he will meet Romano Prodi over a breakfast at which other guests will also participate. Turkey is pursuing its diplomatic efforts to secure a date in Copenhagen for the launch of negotiations over its membership of the EU. Having received Danish Foreign Minister Per stig Moeller in Ankara on Tuesday, Yasar Yakis placed special emphasis on this goal. He declared that Turkey did "not feel well treated at the door of the European Union". It "has met the political criteria to the level the other candidates had received a date for beginning negotiations", there will therefore be discrimination if the Fifteen do not set a date in Copenhagen, he stressed. Turkish diplomatic sources placed emphasis on the fact that Turkey would not be satisfied with a new rendezvous, in 2003, to decide on the date. It would be "most inadequate", a diplomat declared to Agence Europe, "we want a precise date". The same source assured us that "the general atmosphere is much better than a month ago". The United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Greece are the countries most in favour of adopting a date for the launch of negotiations.
"It is too soon the say exactly what the decision will be" at the Summit "on the next stage of Turkey's candidature…, but I'm sure that it will be satisfactory for both the Union and Turkey", declared Per Stig Moeller after his meeting in Ankara with the AKP leader Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, and Yasar Yakis. Mr. Mueller found it "very encouraging that the new Turkish Government should have firmly decided to pursue the reforms process".
Per Stig Mueller was also in Ankara to step up the pressure for the adoption of the UN plan for Cyprus. He recalled that the EU - still - hoped for an agreement or at least a declaration in Copenhagen.