Kouchner withdraws support for Turkey’s EU bid

Turkey opposed Rasmussen's appointment at a NATO summit last weekend until US President Barack Obama intervened to broker a deal. President Abdullah Gül, representing Turkey at the summit, was under intense pressure from European members of NATO to accept Rasmussen's nomination. Turkey argued that Rasmussen was not a good choice to lead NATO at a time when the alliance is preparing to expand its mission in Afghanistan.

"I was very shocked by the pressure that was brought on us," Kouchner told RTL radio on Tuesday. Kouchner also claimed Turkey was moving in a more religious direction. "Turkey's evolution in, let's say, a more religious direction, towards a less robust secularism, worries me," he said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has long been opposed to Turkey's EU bid and that has been official French policy, but his left-wing foreign minister had been more open to the idea, though he said this was no longer his stance after the NATO summit.

Kouchner made the comment as Obama reiterated his call to the European Union to accept Turkey as a member in a meeting with university students in İstanbul right before wrapping up a landmark visit to Ankara and İstanbul.

Kouchner echoed Sarkozy and said it was not for the Americans "to decide who comes into Europe." He said, "We are in charge in our own house."

Kouchner's Austrian counterpart, Michael Spindelegger, also rejected Obama's call. "It's not new. The Bush administration also tried to convince us," said Spindelegger. "But it is clear that the European Union and its member states will alone decide," he told the Austrian public station Radio Öl.

Turkey's relations with the EU have been problematic over the past three years, but experts say the approaching elections for the European Parliament are also a factor for why European politicians recently stepped up their opposition to Turkey. The elections will be held in two months and politicians hope anti-Turkey rhetoric will increase votes for their candidates, given the public skepticism in their countries toward Turkey's EU bid.

Obama said in İstanbul that the decision on Turkey's EU membership did not belong to the US but added that this "doesn't prevent me from having an opinion."