The European Commission expects E.U. membership negotiations with Turkey to begin on October 3 as planned, a spokeswoman for the commission said Tuesday, dpa reported. "We would think that the negotiation framework proposed by us would be accepted," the spokeswoman said. However the framework has not yet been unanimously approved by all 25 current European Union member states and this may not happen until October 3 - directly before talks commence. European Commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn, has said several times over the past few weeks that he sees Turkey fulfilling the conditions necessary to start talks. These include amending Turkish law to guarantee human rights in accordance with E.U. standards and the signing of a protocol extending the customs union between Turkey and the E.U.'s ten new members, including Cyprus, a country Turkey does not recognize. While the government in Ankara has signed the protocol, it also issued a statement claiming that its acceptance of the protocol was not tantamount to recognizing Cyprus. The European Commission's legal experts, who were asked to examine whether Turkey fulfilled its protocol requirement despite its statement on Cyprus, have not yet submitted an opinion, the commission spokeswoman said Tuesday.
