Turkey: The EU's landmark decision to launch entry talks with Turkey next year marks the end of decades of political instability and military interventions, according to the Turkish foreign minister, Mr Abdullah Gul.
The Muslim country, which straddles Europe and the Middle East, agreed a date to begin negotiating its entry at an EU summit on Friday, and Mr Gul said this promised Turkey greater influence in the Islamic world.
"There will no longer be interruptions, interim periods [of military rule] and interventions, because there won't be cause for these," he told a newspaper.
"Turkey is no longer a country that will progress for five years, stall for 20 years, fight for three years. Stability has come."
Turkish generals have long held considerable sway over the country's elected politicians, staging three coups since 1960 and forcing a fourth government, led by an Islamist party, to resign in 1997.
But recent reforms aimed at meeting EU political criteria to start negotiations have reined in the power of the military, which sees itself as the guarantor of Turkey's secular state.
Full EU membership is at least a decade away and Brussels expects a major improvement in Turkey's human rights record, including full rights for non-Muslim minorities and eradication of torture.
The sensitive issue of recognising the internationally accepted Cyprus government, an EU member that Ankara refuses to acknowledge, could still prove a stumbling block for Turkey even before it starts negotiations.
But the EU's invitation to open accession talks has already raised Turkey"s profile, Mr Gul said.
"There is a big difference between a Turkey negotiating (EU membership) and a Turkey that is not. Turkey's status has changed in a matter of days," he said.
"Its position in the region, with its neighbours in the Middle East and the Caucasus, its role and value in the Muslim world, have reached a new level." - (Reuters)