ISTANBUL (AFP) - US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) repeated a call for the European Union (news - web sites) to admit Turkey, ignoring criticism by France that he was interfering in EU affairs.
But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan brushed aside suggestions that a spat between Bush and French President Jacques Chirac had marred a two-day NATO (news - web sites) summit here, saying "it should not be cause of discomfort."
"America believes that as a European power, Turkey belongs in the European Union," Bush said in a speech to students at Istanbul's Galatasaray University as he wrapped up his maiden visit to this NATO ally.
"Your membership would also be a crucial advance in relations between the Muslim world and the West, because you are part of both. Including Turkey in the EU would prove that Europe is not the exclusive club of a single religion."
Bush did not repeat his call, made before talks with Erdogan in Ankara on Sunday, that Turkey "ought to be given a date" by Brussels for EU entry.
Those remarks drew an exasperated rebuke a day later from French President Jacques Chirac, who said they were "like me telling the United States how to run its affairs with Mexico."
"Not only did he go too far, he ventured into territory which is not his concern," Chirac told a news conference on the sidelines of the summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
But the French leader refused to be drawn into a public slanging match with Bush on Tuesday.
"I stated very clearly my position yesterday," he told a reporter who asked him at a news conference to comment.
"We are friends, we are allies but we are not subservient, when we disagree with one another we say so," he added.
Erdogan also sought to play down the incident.
"I believe it should be considered as being normal for the president of a very influential country in the world to express his opinion," he told a news conference after the summit ended.
But he pointed out that, while "President Bush (news - web sites) expressed his good will," the United States had no say in the way the EU admitted new members to its fold.
"They will not be there in that process," he said.
Chirac made it clear, moreover, that whatever differences he had with Bush, it was not over the question of Turkish membership of the EU.
"The path taken is now irreversible," he said when asked what he thought of Turkey's bid to join.
Turkey, a formal candidate of the newly enlarged 25-strong bloc since 1999, is keen for the go-ahead to begin membership talks with the bloc when EU leaders meet in December to assess its progress in democracy and human rights.
Turkey argues that it has met most of the criteria required to begin membership talks, but Brussels has said it must also see the reforms properly implemented.
In his speech, Bush called Turkey "a model to others" among predominantly Muslim nations that seek to embrace democracy and said Ankara was "moving rapidly to meet the criteria for membership" in the EU.
Bush said Europe had the opportunity to erase an "artificial division by including Turkey in the future of Europe."
The spat between Bush and Chirac introduced a new chill into relations which had only just begun to thaw after hitting a nadir during last year's US-led invasion of Iraq (news - web sites), which Paris fiercely opposed.
While Chirac has said he, too, believes that Turkey "has a European vocation," he has also cautioned that the conditions for its entry to the EU have not yet been met.
