The Turkish premier may have squandered political capital by not compromising more, writes Denis Staunton.
It was, as the Taoiseach observed last night, "not the tidiest" end to Turkey's 40-year effort to open membership negotiations with the European Union. As EU leaders raised their glasses to toast their new negotiating partner, Turkey's prime minister, Mr Tayyip Erdogan, poured cold water on the celebrations.
He told the leaders that, although Turkey had agreed to extend its association agreement with the EU to the 10 new member-states, this did not imply a willingness to recognise Cyprus. "He did put in the bitter pill at the end," Mr Ahern said.
The Cypriot president, Mr Tassos Papadopolous, reacted angrily, telling Mr Erdogan that the EU's demand that Turkey should sign a new protocol to the agreement came from all 25 member-states.
The sour end to yesterday's meeting contrasted with the buoyant mood of EU leaders on Thursday night. The 25 had overcome internal differences to agree to start talks with Turkey next October and the Dutch Presidency clearly believed that the conditions laid out would be acceptable to Ankara.
Within minutes of the midnight announcement, Turkey made its displeasure plain and when the leaders re-assembled in the Justus Lipsius building yesterday morning, the outlook appeared bleak.
"The understanding we had last night had not been bought into by Turkey," Mr Ahern said.
Amid threats to walk away from the negotiations, Mr Erdogan flatly rejected the EU's demand that Turkey should immediately extend the Ankara Agreement, which has provided the legal framework for EU-Turkey relations since 1963, to the 10 new member-states.
While Mr Erdogan held frantic talks with the Dutch prime minister, Mr Jan-Peter Balkenende, the President of the European Parliament, Mr Josep Borrell and the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, waited patiently for 90 minutes.
The meeting with Mr Annan was designed to show solidarity with the UN Secretary General, who has faced calls from US lawmakers for his resignation. According to one diplomatic source, however, Mr Annan was all but bundled out of the room after a brief discussion of plans to reform the UN Security Council.
Mr Borrell's meeting with the leaders was even more perfunctory, with only the Commission President, Mr Jose Manuel Barroso, responding to his prepared statement.
The Turkish prime minister argued that it was unreasonable of the EU to ask Turkey to recognise the Cypriot government in advance of a comprehensive settlement of the dispute in the divided island. Turkey has more than 30,000 troops stationed in the north of the island and has not recognised the southern state since the islands division in 1974.
The Greek Cypriot state joined the EU last May, following its rejection of a peace plan that would have seen a united island joining the Union, a deal that was approved in a referendum in the northern part of the island.
By mid-afternoon, the Dutch Presidency was signalling that it had found a compromise with Turkey that would see Mr Erdogan promising to extend the Ankara Agreement to the new member-states before Turkey's membership talks begin.
In a declaration, Turkey confirmed that it was "ready to sign the Protocol on the adaptation of the Ankara Agreement prior to the actual start of accession negotiations and after reaching agreement on and finalising the adaptations which are necessary in view of the current membership of the European Union".
Mr Erdogan's outburst at the end of the meeting shocked a number of leaders, not least because the compromise fell well short of the Cypriots' initial demand for full diplomatic recognition from Turkey.
"They are not going to get a start to negotiations on October 3rd unless they adapt the Ankara Agreement. . . If you're going to adapt the Ankara Agreement, you're going to adapt the Ankara Agreement, so just get on with it," the Taoiseach said later.
Mr Erdogan may have squandered valuable political capital with his graceless coda to yesterday's meeting. As France and Austria, the EU's most sceptical countries where Turkey is concerned, announced their intention to hold referendums on Turkish entry, Mr Erdogan will need all the good will he can find during the years ahead.