Britain is facing the most critical moment of its European Union presidency as it seeks to resolve a deep rift over Turkey's EU ambitions, amid warnings that deadlock could provoke an unprecedented crisis between Europe and the Muslim world.
At an emergency meeting today of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg
chaired by Britain, Austria was to face pressure to withdraw its threat to veto the start of EU membership talks with Ankara.
Formal negotiations - a historic moment for which Turkey has waited more than four decades - are due to start tonight (NZT).
Despite its isolation, Austria has refused to approve the negotiating mandate, without which the talks cannot start. It insists that an alternative to membership should be considered for Turkey, but any mention of a potential second-class status would prompt Ankara to walk away.
Even if they start, negotiations with Turkey will probably last a decade. At least two EU countries say they will hold referendums before giving Ankara the green light to join. The row has touched a raw nerve across Europe. Opinion is divided over the merits of admitting a mainly Muslim country of 70 million, many of whom live in relative poverty.
Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, is warning of the geopolitical consequences of delivering a rebuff to Turkey.
"We're concerned about a so-called clash of civilisations," he told the BBC.
"We're concerned about this theological-political divide, which could open up even further down the boundary between so-called Christian heritage states and those of Islamic heritage. We need to see Turkey in the European Union and not pushed the other way."
But former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing argues that Britain backs Turkish membership because it would help to dilute European integration by widening, not deepening, the EU. All 25 EU nations agreed last December that negotiations should start with Turkey. But since then, referendum "no" votes on the European constitution in France and the Netherlands have changed the climate.
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