Turkey Sets 10-Year Ultimatum for EU, Demands Entry by 2023
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared that the European Union will either accept his country as a member by 2023 or lose it.
"They probably won't string us along that long. But if they do... then the European Union will lose out, and at the very least they will lose Turkey," Erdogan has told a panel discussion in Berlin, as cited by Arutz Sheva.
Turkey has pursued accession to the EU since 2005.
However, the country's bid to join the bloc has ground to a halt in recent years due to opposition from core EU members and the failure to find a solution to the dispute over the divided island of Cyprus.
In 2023, Turkey will celebrate its 100th anniversary as a republic, created following the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1923.
Text and photo: www.novinite.com
(01.11.2012)