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State Department Wants Turkey in EU
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - The State Department on Wednesday urged the European Union to move toward membership for Turkey as soon as possible.
Spokesman Richard Boucher said the Bush administration will continue to express this view to the EU until there is a final decision at a December summit in Denmark.
Boucher also welcomed the announcement by the EU's Executive Commission that eight Eastern European nations as well as Cyprus and Malta were ready for membership and will be invited to join in 2004.
The Commission, meeting in Belgium, remained silent on when to start entrance talks with Turkey, an EU candidate since 1999.
A Commission report said Turkey still failed to meet political and economic criteria and needs to clean up its human rights records.
Boucher said EU expansion is ``a positive and constructive process'' that broadens the zone of political stability and economic prosperity in Europe.
The United States, he said, long has believed that ``Turkey's future is in Europe. It's in the strategic interest of the United States and the European Union, Turkey and the European Union, that Turkey and the European Union build the closest possible relationship.''
He added: ``We support Turkey's aspirations to become a member of the European Union. We see the European Union's report as a positive step in that direction.''
At the Cyprus embassy, Ambassador Erato Kozakou Marcoullis said, ``It's a historic day for Cyprus, the same way it is a historic day for Europe - primarily for Europe because this is the continuation of the process for the unification of Europe.''
The ambassador said Turkey has a lot to do before gaining membership in the European Union. ``Certainly, Turkey knows that having a settlement in Cyprus would facilitate its own accession process toward the European Union,'' she said.
In 1974 Turkish troops seized control of part of the island country, which declared itself a separate state. The Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia has been trying unsuccessfully to reverse the takeover.
10/09/02 18:21 EDT
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