Turkey has announced it is ready with its programme for political, economic and legal reforms required for full EU membership.
The National Programme would be submitted to the Cabinet tomorrow for approval, a statement from Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's office said.
The details are expected to be announced in a news conference later tomorrow.
Turkey was accepted as a candidate for EU in December 1999 but the EU said Ankara needed to improve its human rights record, strengthen its fragile economy and reform scores of laws before it could join. The programme will set a timetable for those reforms.
The Turkish statement read: "The National Programme will show Turkey's political determination, self-confidence and social consensus towards full EU membership."
Turkey has repeatedly postponed the presentation of the programme apparently due to disagreements within the three-party governing coalition. The statement said all coalition parties had reached a consensus.
The far-right Nationalist Action Party is opposed to granting cultural rights to Turkey's 12 million Kurds and to abolishing the death penalty - both EU demands. Education and broadcasting in Kurdish are banned.
PA