Visiting Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said in Paris Friday that the European Union (EU) must not take a step backwards and negotiate a "privileged partnership" with Turkey in place of full membership.

"The EU recognized Turkey as a candidate country in 1999 without expressing any such reservation. The debate is legitimate but you cannot ignore the past," Karamanlis told French daily newspaper Le Figaro in its Friday edition during his first official visit to France.

"The EU must maintain its credibility," he added.

"Would it be just or even honest to say to Turkey that what we are proposing today is not exactly the same as what we were proposing six years ago?" he said, stressing "A European Turkey is in everyone's interest, particularly Greece."

He also said that "all obstacles created by Turkey in terms of the recognition of Cyprus would be a problem for the negotiation process," which is awaited on Oct. 3.

Karamanlis was expected to meet French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and President Jacques Chirac amidst disagreement within the EU before the scheduled access talks with Ankara, and a debate within France over whether Turkey should ever be admitted as a member.

The EU asks Turkey to recognize Cyprus before it could join the bloc, a step unlikely for at least a decade.

Cyprus was divided into Greek Cypriot south and Turkish Cypriot north in 1974 when Turkish troops entered the northern third of the island in the wake of an abortive Greek Cypriot coup seeking union with Greece.

Source: Xinhua