BRUSSELS, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- European Commission President Romano Prodi said Wednesday that Turkey should not be given a date to start EU membership talks at an upcoming summit of European leaders because it did not meet the bloc's human rights standards.
Most EU governments support opening negotiations with Turkey by 2005 if the largely Muslim state fulfills the so-called "Copenhagen criteria" -- the rules that require applicants to pass a series of political tests before discussions can begin.
Ankara is lobbying for membership talks to start as early as next year -- a position backed by the United States.
But speaking on the eve of the EU summit, Prodi said, "I appreciate the progress made, but on the basis of an objective assessment Turkey does not yet correspond with the Copenhagen criteria."
Prodi's hard-line stance is supported by Danish Prime Minister Anders-Fogh Rasmussen, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.
Rasmussen said EU leaders "would not give a calendar in Copenhagen," despite intense pressure from Ankara, Washington and a handful of European capitals.
After a meeting of EU foreign ministers Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said the EU was "overwhelmingly positive" about a Franco-German plan to offer Turkey a 2005 date, as long as 2004 human rights review proved positive.
However, Italy and Greece favor starting entry talks as early as 2003. Britain and Spain are pushing for EU leaders to offer Ankara a starting date in Copenhagen.
Turkish legislators have been working since the summer to meet the EU's strict political criteria. The parliament, now dominated by a moderate Islamic party, has abolished the death penalty, banned torture and moved to curb the influence of the country's powerful armed forces.
"Nobody can tell us that we haven't met the Copenhagen criteria," Turkey's new Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said Wednesday. "Perhaps the EU wasn't expecting us to be this quick. We have a clear, courageous and brave stance, and we expect the same thing from the EU."
Gul warned that not accepting Turkey, which first applied for EU membership more than 40 years ago, would send a negative message to other Muslim countries.
"If they do not admit Turkey, this means that they will prefer a narrow Europe and they will prefer a Europe like a Christian club."
Turkey's membership application is complicated by the divided status of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
EU leaders have made it clear they will invite the southern half of the country to join the Union if the government of the Turkish-backed northern half does not agree to a U.N.-brokered peace plan that aims to reunify the island.
Gul said the revised peace plan presented by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier this week was: "Not a positive document for the Turkish side."
Asked what would happen if EU leaders agreed only to let Greek Cypriots into the Union and set 2005 as a date to start membership talks with Ankara, Gul replied: "This would be an error of historic proportions, and the EU must be ready to take the consequences."
