Turkey, EU Reach Deal

Turkey and the European Union agreed Monday to start membership talks — a historic step that would transform the bloc by taking in a predominantly Muslim nation and expanding the EU's borders to the Middle East.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said before leaving for Luxembourg that his country had agreed to the EU's terms for opening the negotiations. He earlier had delayed his departure, insisting Turkey could not accept second-class status in the EU.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials had spent about 4 1/2 hours analyzing a framework document agreed upon by EU foreign ministers following two days of intense negotiations in Luxembourg.

"Marathon negotiations — along with implicit threats — produced a result," said CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk from the United Nations, "allowing the first Muslim nation to begin a ten to fifteen year process for full membership in the European Union."

"Turkey has turned its direction toward the EU for more than 40 years, it has aimed for full membership," Gul said shortly before boarding his small executive jet in Ankara. "We have reached a historic point. Full membership negotiations will, God willing, begin tonight. Turkey will be the only Muslim country in EU."

Gul said there was "intense diplomacy" on behalf of Turkey from the United States, the United Nations, and Arab states. He thanked the Arab league for making a call on EU to act fairly toward Turkey.

"After the negotiations start, the whole world will benefit," he said. "God willing, it will be beneficial."

Austria had been resisting the bid by Turkey to join the EU, demanding the EU grant Ankara something short of full membership in case it cannot meet all membership obligations. Opening membership talks requires the unanimous approval of all 25 EU governments.

Diplomats said Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik had finally relented, accepting language in the negotiating rules that state unambiguously that "the shared objective of the negotiations is (Turkey's) accession."

The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. No specific details were released about the deal.

Failure to start the membership talks would be seen as a serious blow to the credibility of the EU, which made Turkey an associate member in 1963 with the prospect of future membership. This year, the bloc saw its proposed constitution collapse when Dutch and French voters rejected it, while a nasty spat between France and Britain over EU funding in June left it without a budget for the 2007-13 period.

In Ankara, Erdogan said he spoke to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who voiced support for Turkey's bid to start membership talks. Erdogan said he maintained "hope until the last minute" that EU leaders would overcome the deadlock.

The issue of EU member Cyprus — which Turkey refuses to recognize — complicated matters.

A French diplomat said Cyprus demanded stronger language in the negotiating mandate to ensure Turkey does not use international organizations to hinder Cyprus. The diplomat also spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.

In the past, Ankara has vetoed EU-NATO military exercises involving Cyprus, where Turkey props up a renegade Turkish Cypriot state that no other country recognizes.

Cypriot officials denied they sought additional demands.

Turkey belongs to NATO, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe. But its shaky human rights and poor economic past have kept it from becoming a full EU member.

In recent years, Turkey has implemented key political and economic reforms, and now wants the EU to make good on its promise to bring it into the bloc.

The EU's 24 other foreign ministers spent eight hours Sunday trying to sway Plassnik to endorse a negotiating mandate for Turkey.

The membership talks for Turkey are expected to last a decade, at least.

In a related development, U.N. chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte told EU foreign ministers that Croat— another entry candidate &— was cooperating fully to try to bring war crimes suspect Gen. Ante Gotovina to trial.

There has been widespread speculation in recent days that in playing up its objections to Turkey, Austria was hoping to persuade the EU to jump-start Croatia's membership drive — frozen last year over the nation's failure to capture Gotovina.

EU officials insisted Monday there was no link between the Croatia and Turkey talks.