Turkey was expected to boycott an EU conference in London on 12 March in protest at its exclusion from the list of countries eligible to join the bloc in the near future. The move follows bitter criticism of the EU by Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz.

'If we attend the European conference, it would mean accepting the discrimination against us,' Yilmaz told the London daily The Financial Times on 6 March. The meeting includes all EU heads of states as well as 11 candidates for membership, including Cyprus.

Yilmaz accused the German government of being instrumental in excluding Turkey from the EU. 'The Germans continue the same strategy as before,' he said. 'They believe in Lebensraum. That means the Central and Eastern European countries are of strategic importance for Europe and for Germany as their back yard. 'Their final goal is to include these countries in NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organisation] and the EU, and to divide Europe between Bulgaria and Turkey. Turkey should be a good neighbour for Europe and not a member of the EU.'

The EU decided in December to invite six countries from Central and Eastern Europe, including Cyprus, to start membership talks in 1998, with another five countries asked to join the talks later. Turkey was excluded from both lists, and has been classified simply as 'eligible'. The EU has pointed to Turkey's poor human rights record and its position on the Cyprus issue as the main reasons for its exclusion. But the EU is making some efforts to address Ankara's disappointment. On 3 March, the European Commission published a new strategy for enhancing co-operation between the EU and Turkey. The paper sets out a work programme to consolidate and add substance to the customs union which came into force at the start of 1996.

The Commission says the following initiatives should go ahead in the first half of this year:

intensifying industrial co-operation and stimulating investment

adjustments in Turkish agricultural policy to encompass the Common Agricultural Policy

exploratory talks aimed at an agreement on services

giving greater substance to the customs union through technical assistance and administrative co-operation

improving the machinery for consultation between the two parties in areas of direct significance to the operation of the customs union

exploratory talks on opening up public procurement

establishment of a macroeconomic dialogue, notably covering greater liberalisation of movements of capital

assistance to help meet EU regulations on the environment, telecommunications, consumer policy, and consumer protection

establishment of the mechanisms needed to enable Turkey to become involved in certain EU programmes and agencies

greater institutional co-operation and political dialogue.