Bloomberg.com: Turkey's EU Bid Undeterred by Constitutional Crisis, Rehn Says - Marie-Louise Moller and James G. Neuger
Turkey's EU Bid Undeterred by Constitutional Crisis, Rehn Says - Marie-Louise Moller and James G. Neuger
The European Union won't allow efforts by Turkish prosecutors to oust the government to disrupt talks on Turkey joining the bloc, the EU's top expansion negotiator said. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said negotiations in at least two more policy areas will start by the end of June, bolstering Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's legitimacy in a power struggle with Turkey's top law enforcer.
``The EU accession process of Turkey is alive and moving forward,'' Rehn said in a Bloomberg Television interview at a German Marshall Fund conference yesterday in Brussels. The chief prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, on March 14 filed a Constitutional Court suit to outlaw Erdogan's party on the grounds that it threatens Turkey's separation of church and state. Energy ``is essential for both Europe and Turkey, knowing Turkey's role as a second route of gas and oil supply from the southeastern dimension,'' Rehn said.
