Turkey was blocking key plans for the European Union's Rapid Reaction Force last night by refusing to allow it to use NATO equipment in a future crisis.
Alliance foreign ministers meeting in Brussels were struggling to issue a final communique after Ankara rejected pleas from the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, to withdraw objections to crucial arrangements between the fledgling EU force and NATO. Usually the content of end-of-year communiques is settled well in advance.
The Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, had earlier received a personal appeal from President Clinton.
Turkey, a key member of NATO, is doggedly blocking "assured access" to NATO assets in an attempt to win full participation in EU military decision-making - despite not being a member of the union.
"Turkey has a particular concern in that it wants access to planning capabilities to be on a case-by-case rather than an assured basis," the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, said.
Turkey has a difficult relationship with the EU, which has refused it membership for more than 30 years. It is worried that the planned 60,000-strong European force could operate in Cyprus or the Aegean, where Turkey is in conflict with Greece.
"What the Turks actually want is a kind of occasional membership of the EU," said one diplomat. "And that's just not possible. There's no ground to fight over." Ms Albright made clear why the US wanted assured access: "This is not a gift from NATO to the EU. Rather, it is in our own interest to avoid duplication and enable the EU to focus on improving capabilities in the field."
And in comments interpreted as a message to France, which has sent mixed signals about the independence of the European force from NATO, she warned: "In this effort, there is no room for rivalry, jealousy or complacency. The stakes are simply too high and the consequences of a failure to co-operate would weaken NATO, the EU and Europe as a whole."
French diplomats complained that France was being used as a "whipping boy" because NATO was bogged down in disputes over terms with the EU.
The NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson, said he was confident that the US and Europe would not drift apart under the new president.
"There is no danger of decoupling taking place," he said. "The Europeans are building new capabilities that they didn't have before. European defence and NATO are two sides of the same coin.
"The grand bargain for Europe is the access to NATO assets."