EU: The man presiding over the Convention of the Future of Europe set fire to one of the most contentious issues in European politics yesterday when he asserted that to admit Turkey as a member of the European Union would herald the end of the Union itself.
According to Mr Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, a former president of France: "Turkey is a country close to Europe, an important country . . . but it is not a European country. Its capital is not in Europe, it has 95 per cent of its population outside Europe."
While Mr Giscard did not refer specifically to Turkey's Muslim culture, he alluded to it by saying the country had - for "completely respectable reasons", as he put it - "a different culture, a different approach, a different way of life".
Although EU heads of state and government decided in December 1999 to recognise Turkey as a candidate for membership, Mr Giscard said the EU should not feel tied by that decision.
The convention, he said, was working on the basis of a Union of 25 plus two, i.e. the existing 15 plus the 10 countries earmarked for admission in 2004 plus Romania and Bulgaria. The admission of Turkey would, he told Le Monde, be something different.
"I give my opinion: it is the end of the European Union," said the man who aims to draft a constitution for the EU.
Although it might be possible to establish a regional organisation of Europe and the Near East, with institutions, a common market and so on, it would be a different project, he said.
Mr Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament, called Mr Giscard's remarks "ill-advised".
Ankara dismissed Mr Giscard's comments as "nothing more than emotion". Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which won Sunday's election in Turkey, played down their importance.
"I want to express this clearly," he said. "Turkey is a member of the Council of Europe, an OECD member and a NATO member. To say such a thing about such a country that is member of such bodies is nothing more than emotion," Mr Erdogan said.
Mr Yasar Yakis, the party's foreign policy adviser, said: "European history and Ottoman history were formed together. When all this is the case, stating that Turkey is not a part of Europe does not match the realities."
The timing of Mr Giscard's remarks is highly sensitive. The EU is under pressure from the US to offer Turkey a date for opening negotiations for membership at the European summit in Copenhagen in a month's time, when the EU will formally complete negotiations with the 10 accession states, which include Cyprus, which is divided between Greek and Turk sectors.
Mr Giscard's remarks are sure to enrage the Americans. The US values Turkey as a member of NATO and a strategically important military ally. US diplomats were heavily involved in persuading the EU to give Turkey candidate status back in 1999.
Mr John Gormley of the Green Party, who attended the convention, said Mr Giscard was "entitled to express an opinion". But he would not oppose Turkey joining the EU as long as it fulfilled the criteria for membership, including those on human rights.