Turkey has reacted furiously to a European Union decision to delay the start of its EU accession talks by two years.
EU leaders have sought to assure Turkey its future lies in Europe despite putting off a start date for the country's accession drive until at least December 2004.
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Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister.
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But Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul accused the EU of "unacceptable discrimination" at a summit in Copenhagen. "It's impossible to accept this decision," an aide quoted Mr Gul as telling British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had backed Turkey's demands for an early start date for EU talks.
"A great discrimination is being made," Mr Gul was quoted, as saying in an apparent reference to Turkey's Muslim population.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced the EU would decide only at the end of 2004 whether to start membership talks with the key NATO member after evaluating its progress on democratic reforms.
Turkey, an EU candidate since 1999, had been pushing for a start date for accession talks as early as next year following its adoption of democracy and human rights reforms.
The EU move came despite renewed pressure from the United States on behalf of Turkey, a pivotal ally whose support will be crucial to any war against Iraq.
It seemed unlikely that the EU, which is meeting to seal its historic enlargement to take in 10 new members from eastern Europe and the Mediterranean in 2004, would revise its decision.
The Union said Ankara had to go further towards meeting the "Copenhagen criteria" for membership, a set of tough guidelines laid down in 1993 to judge whether a candidate country is fit for EU membership.
AFP