’Do not change EU rules in mid-game’

Agence France-Presse

"When you begin a match and we are playing you can't change the rules, it's silly. We don't want to be surprised by changed rules, we've spoken to (French) President Sarkozy and (German) Chancellor Merkel," Erdoğan told reporters at a joint press conference in Warsaw with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both voiced their opposition to Turkey joining the EU in the run-up to the European elections on June 7.

"These are very unfortunate comments from both President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel," Erdoğan said. "What was applied to the 27 (EU) countries that are members should also be applied to Turkey," he added, thanking 2004 EU entrant Poland for sustained support for Turkey's bid to join.

Tusk vowed to impress upon EU leaders that the terms agreed for Turkey's EU accession must not be changes. "In talks I will remind my European partners that previously no one told Turkey that after fulfilling certain obvious criteria, resolving certain problems, some kind of new criteria or barriers will appear," Tusk said.

"You can't treat a partner like this. We have to mutually respect each other. Execute the agreements we made, respect the words we have uttered and when everything will match what we agreed a few years ago, then the decision about accession should be automatic," Tusk said.

Tusk and Erdoğan also focused on bilateral trade, which the Turkish leader said totalled 3.5 billion dollars last year."I think we should raise this number andI propose to reach five billion dollars by 2013," he said.