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CDU Leader: Turkey Not Fit For EU

December 2, 2003
https://p.dw.com/p/4OSu

The European Union will not be able to handle Turkey's possible inclusion as a full member in the foreseeable future, Christian Democratic Union leader Angel Merkel said at a party conference in Leipzig. “Instead, a privileged partnership between Turkey and the EU seems reasonable to me,” Merkel added. The debate over Turkey’s possible EU membership in the future flared up again after the recent suicide bomb attacks in Istanbul. Green party leaders in turn accused the conservatives of playing into the hands of terrorists by questioning Turkey’s fitness to enter the union. “One shouldn’t shut the European door in front of Turkey’s face,” German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said, adding that Turkey’s application should go through the same process as those of other countries. Meanwhile, a slight majority of Germans, 51 percent, oppose Turkey’s admission to the European Union, according to a German public television poll.