Turkey Rejects 'Conditional Yes' on EU Membership Talks

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has caused dismay in Turkey by suggesting the country might only get "a conditional yes" to open membership talks in December. Schröder said for the first time last Friday that a "conditional yes" without an immediate start to membership talks could be on the cards. The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan on Tuesday dismissed this possibility saying, according to Turkish newspaper Zaman, "a conditional yes or other such things are not for us." Erdogan was speaking in Paris where he is trying to win over the support of a reluctant France for his country's membership. In December, EU heads of state and government have to decide whether or not to start talks with Ankara "without delay", a deal agreed in 2002. (EUobserver.com)