Poland reaffirms support for Turkey’s EU bid

Poland reaffirmed its support on Thursday for Turkey's bid to join the European Union and said the bloc should not try to attach additional conditions for its membership.

Muslim but secular Turkey faces stiff opposition to its EU bid from the leaders of France and Germany, who say the country is too large, too poor and too culturally different to fit into an EU already struggling to accommodate 27 member states. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy say the EU should instead offer Turkey a "privileged partnership" falling short of full membership.

"Poland will first of all keep reminding our EU partners that nobody spoke of additional conditions before for Turkey's EU accession," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan.

"The EU set certain conditions (for membership) and when they are met the positive decision should be automatic… I believe that by steady and calm work we will be able to reach a point in a few years when we can say all conditions are met."

Poland, which joined the EU in 2004, is a strong supporter of enlarging the bloc further to include Turkey, Balkan countries and eventually its eastern neighbour Ukraine.

Erdogan said Merkel and Sarkozy should respect previous EU agreements which envisage Turkey joining the EU as a full-fledged member after it has completed its negotiations.

"I always say that one cannot change the rules of the game once it has started… The criticism of these politicians affects the views of Turkish citizens about the EU," he said.

Turkey began EU accession talks in 2005 but the negotiations are expected to take many more years, not least because of a decades-old territorial dispute with EU member Cyprus.