EU Parliament obstacle to Turkey?

ANKARA, Turkey, June 9 (UPI) -- A victory for conservative lawmakers in the European Parliament could create moderate obstacles to Turkish accession efforts, analysts say.

Conservatives in the center-right People's Party took 267 of the 736 seats in the European Parliament over Socialists, who took just 159 seats, down from 215.

"The fact that Social Democrats have lost seats in the European Parliament is not good news for Turkey," Jan Marinus Wiersma of the Socialist Group in Parliament told the Turkish daily Hurriyet.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had suggested the outcome of the European elections would not impact the accession efforts or relations with the European community, however.

His comments come on the heels of a visit to Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who backed Turkish efforts to join Europe.

"I underscored again today the United States' strong support for Turkey's bid to become a member of the European Union," Clinton told reporters last week.

Analysts told Hurriyet, meanwhile, the conservative victory was a consequence of the global economic meltdown and not a result of European expansion.

"I think Turkey should be aware that the victory of the right wing has much less to do with anything real about Turkey, which is a kind of proxy for Europe's domestic concerns," said Hugh Pope, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.

Turkey faces modest opposition from European member states over its human-rights records and ongoing disputes regarding Cyprus.

Ankara has received some support for its EU accession bid, however, though Olli Rehn, the EU commissioner for enlargement, said the accession process would be long.