The European Union on Thursday called emergency talks to overcome Austria's objections to starting historic entry negotiations with Turkey, against a mounting sense of brinkmanship over the deadlock.
The British EU presidency reluctantly called the meeting after diplomats again failed to find a way out of the impasse, with Austria apparently seeking to use the Turkey issue to boost Croatia's hopes of starting its own delayed talks. "I can confirm that foreign ministers will meet on Sunday," said a British spokesman. "Unfortunately it was not possible to agree the negotiating framework today at ambassadorial level."
Four out of five Austrians object to Turkey joining the bloc and the conservative government wants the negotiating framework - the guiding principles for the talks - to allow for something other than full membership.
"If we trust Turkey to make further progress we should trust Croatia too," Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel told the Financial Times newspaper. "It is in Europe's interest to start negotiations with Croatia immediately."
With all 25 EU member states needing to agree for Monday's accession negotiations to begin, Austria's stance has fuelled new anger in Turkey as it amounts to a fresh obstacle after years of trying to join. "Turkey will not accept anything less than full membership in the Union," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Abu Dhabi-based daily Al-Ittihad during a visit to the United Arab Emirates.
"There's nothing called privileged partnership because a state which accepts negotiations' terms aspires to full EU membership," he said.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul admitted the talks might not start on Monday, but said there was time for compromise.
"Undoubtedly, there is the risk of not starting membership talks," he said. "But on the other hand there are intense efforts to reach a solution. There is still time to resolve the problems and I hope they will be resolved." Earlier, Turkish parliament speaker Bulent Arinc claimed Turkey was being provoked. "It seems as if our patience is being tested," he said.