US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright talked Thursday with Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem to hear Ankara's concerns about EU-NATO relations, a US official said.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers' meeting that was discussing formal structures that would give the European Union access to NATO planning and assets.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the US official said Albright wanted to meet Cem "to try to better understand Turkey's position and needs, and to see what we can do" to meet its concerns.
The meeting did not, however, produce any firm results.
Like the 18 other NATO allies, Turkey broadly supports the European Union's quest for a "defense identity" represented by a 60,000-strong rapid reaction force to be in place by 2003.
But it is balking at proposals for the Europeans to tap into NATO assets, unless it has guarantees that it will have a say in EU operations that use NATO know-how.
Albright's meeting with Cem follows a letter that outgoing US President Bill Clinton sent to Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit asking Turkey for more cooperation on the issue -- BRUSSELS (AFP)
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