Turkey, which tomorrow will formallyapply to join the European Community, faces major obstacles in
its bid and is unlikely to become the bloc's 13th member before
the year 2000, EC officials said.
    Turkey's move comes as no surprise, but some officials said
the application from a relatively poor country with most of its
territory in Asia rather than Europe was likely to spark a long
process of soul-searching among the EC's current members about
what kind of European Community they wanted in the long term.
    Officials echoed the view of diplomats in Ankara that
Turkey's move put the EC in the dilemma of wanting to make
clear it values Ankara as an ally in the NATO alliance, but
sees huge problems in accepting it as a fellow EC member.
    They said industrialised Community members have tried to
dissuade Turkey from making the long-discussed formal
application until the EC had had more time to digest the
accession of Spain and Portugal last year.
    Several also feel Ankara and the EC should first fully
implement a 23-year-old association agreement between them
before Turkey becomes a full member.
 Reuter
