The United States and NATO allies were trying to persuade Turkey to stop blocking efforts to reach an agreement on a 60,000-troop EU force that would be used for peacekeeping and other military operations when the alliance does not want to get involved. Albright postponed a press conference earlier in the day in order to allow the allies to make drafts of the agreement to be tinkered with and resubmitted for approval. As of press time, no agreement had been struck. A disagreement between Turkey, a member of NATO but not of the EU, and the other members of NATO is holding up the agreement over wording that was put in documents at last year's NATO summit in Washington. Foreign ministers are trying to reconcile the two.
Turkey favors the latter, while the United States and all the other allies support the former.
The Turks say under what the United States and other allies are proposing, they will not have enough of a say in planning a military operation when the EU force uses NATO resources. Last weekend, EU leaders endorsed using the NATO command and planning structure for the rapid reaction force. There is also speculation that Turkey is hoping for a better deal from the administration of President-elect George W. Bush. One NATO official said that no deadline had been set for reaching a agreement.