Most ill-timed visit of the year: Austrian Parliamentary leader in Ankara yesterday

The most ill-timed visit of the year to Ankara may well be that of Austrian Parliamentary leader Andreas Khol, who came to Ankara yesterday as the guest of Speaker of the Turkish Parliament (TBMM), Bulent Arinc. Minister Khol was received by Arinc in the official offices of the TBMM building while in Luxembourg, the Austrian EU Minister battled the rest of the organization to try and block the start of EU accession talks for Turkey. After receiving Khol, Arinc said reminded the press that the visit by the Austrian minister had been planned long before the Luxembourg meetings. When asked by a reporter what he thought had changed in the EU since the December 17 decision to invite Turkey to start the accession process, Minister Khol said "There have been two referendums in Europe since then. Two European societies rejected the European Constitution. This has shown s that it is important for us to listen to the voice of the people, and this is also what democracy requires of us...."Â