Rome, October 02 (Saba)- Italy's foreign minister has backed Turkey's European Union (EU) full membership, and evaded intermediary formulas. In an exclusive interview with Dossier Lazio, the politics and economy magazine of Il Giornale newspaper, Frattini said he did not think it was right for some EU member states to propose "privileged partnership" to Turkey instead of full membership, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA).

Frattini said he did not agree with privileged partnership proposal, he backed Turkey's EU full membership, and evaded intermediary formulas.

Turkey's EU membership could have a symbolic power for relations between the West and Islam world, Frattini said.

Frattini said Ankara's accession to Europe could be interpreted as not only a symbol of harmonization of Islam, democracy and human rights but also EU's capacity to embrace different cultures.

"This is a significant historic target which we cannot give up," he said.
Frattini said there was a long path before Turkey to get integrated to the EU, and the current picture of Turkey's EU accession process was not promising.
Ankara was causing doubts in some European capitals for some of its foreign policy preferences, he said.

The Italian minister said Turkey should feel that it would reach the finish line in case it fulfilled its obligations, and warned that it would be a grave mistake to change the finish line.

Turkey became an EU candidate country in December 1999. The union launched accession talks with Turkey on October 3, 2005.

Saba