Brussels - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused Germany and France of stalling its European Union membership bid by offering Ankara a "privileged partnership" instead. "Turkey cannot accept the position of Germany and France. A privileged partnership doesn't exist in the acquis (EU law)," Erdogan told reporters before attending a forum in Brussels.
"Our goal is full membership," the premier said, "any alternative is out of the question."
Turkey has mounted a diplomatic offensive aimed at boosting its chances of joining the EU, with Erdogan visiting Brussels twice in the space of three months. His foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, was also in Brussels on Friday to meet the EU enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn, ahead of an accession conference planned for Tuesday.
On that occasion, the sides are expected to start talks on taxation, opening the 11th of 35 negotiating "chapters" aimed at raising the country's legislation up to EU standards.
However, Turkey's eagerness to join the EU has been met with stiff resistance from two of the EU's most powerful member states, Germany and France.
In the run-up to this month's European Parliament election, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy both questioned the wisdom of accepting a predominantly Muslim country of more than 70 million people into the bloc, proposing an undefined "privileged partnership" instead.
Sarkozy had previously suggested that the EU should not accept any new members until its stalled reforming Lisbon Treaty comes into force.
"I hope that the institutional uncertainties do not slow down the accession process," Erdogan told reporters.
Arguing that the EU would suffer the most if Turkey was not accepted as a full member, Erdogan also accused Sarkozy of "inconsistency."
"We have good meetings (with Sarkozy), but during the election process the statements were quite different and discriminatory. We are quite sad to see that," Erdogan said.
Turkey can however enjoy the strong backing of Britain and Sweden, the latter of which assumes the EU's 6-month rotating presidency on Wednesday, as well as the European Commission.
"The commission remains fully committed to the EU agenda for Turkey's accession, unanimously agreed by member states in 2005," Rehn said in a speech to the Crans Montana Forum, in Erdogan's presence.
But in an effort to dampen Turkish expectations, Rehn also noted that "there is no cruise control in the accession negotiations. Each step forward requires hard work and intense preparations by the candidates for EU membership."
The Turkish premier also denied claims of complacency over his efforts to reform the country's institutions and said his government "fully supports a comprehensive settlement" in Cyprus.
Earlier Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu said Ankara had intensified its contacts with officials in Brussels and insisted the government would "work very hard to make Turkey an EU member as soon as possible."
Accession talks between Ankara and the commission started in 2005, and most analysts believe it could take 10 more years before the negotiations are concluded.
After his talks with the foreign minister, Rehn said Ankara should now concentrate on reforming its trade union laws and state aid rules, so that the relevant chapters may be opened, possibly by the end of this year.
The commissioner also praised Turkey's "very concrete efforts" to improve the EU's energy security, most notably through the planned Nabucco pipeline - intended to bring gas from Azerbaijan via Turkey to Austria, bypassing Russia.
