Strategy for development cooperation: Turkey 2005-2009 Reference No.: UD 05.054

Cooperation with Turkey will predominantly focus on the country's European Union membership negotiations, which begin in the autumn of 2005. The European Commission would like to see an active dialogue between the Member States and Turkey in order to support reform in the country and increase international exchange, not least on the civil society level. The area that has been most in focus during the EU's previous dialogue is human rights, where women's rights, ethnic minority issues and torture have received particular attention.