The European Union said today it would open entry talks with Turkey "without delay" if the Ankara government continued its efforts to fulfil the bloc's basic political criteria.
Turkey, the only EU candidate not yet negotiating its accession, has passed a swathe of reforms aimed at meeting the EU's "Copenhagen criteria" of political rights, hoping to win a date in December for talks starting sometime in 2005.
While the EU has praised the new laws, it has also said Turkey has yet to implement many of the changes, including greater cultural rights for the Kurdish minority.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said: "If Turkey meets the Copenhagen criteria the EU is committed to opening accession talks without delay."
Mr Cowen was addressing a news conference after talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.
Mr Cowen was in Turkey as part of an "EU Troika" with Foreign Minister Bernard Bot of the Netherlands, which takes the EU presidency from Ireland in June, and Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen.
Mr Verheugen said the bloc would wait for a European Commission report on Turkey's progress, due out later this year, to decide whether or not to open talks.