At long last, the European Union (EU) and Turkey formally kicked off membership talks early Tuesday, ending their months of wrangling.

The start of the talks might be worth celebrating for both sides. It was historic for Turkey as its 42 years of application finally entered a new stage. For Europe, the talks, if successful, might expand the EU border to Asia.

The sigh of relief from both sides might be short-lived as there is a mountain to climb before Ankara's actual accession to the EU, analysts said.

EU foreign ministers on Monday night reached agreement on the launch of accession talks after more than 30 hours of tough negotiations. Austria finally dropped its demand that Turkey be granted something short of full membership.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who had been monitoring news from Luxembourg in Ankara, flew in late Monday night for the official opening of the talks.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, whose country holds the EU presidency, hailed the opening of the talks as historic.

"We have just made history," Straw told a press conference early Tuesday morning. "We've had the first ministerial meeting on the opening of accession negotiations."

The first meeting, however, was largely symbolic to meet the Oct. 3 deadline set by EU leaders at a summit in December last year.

Straw said in a half jocular way that the first session was able to meet the deadline because he began to speak at the meeting before midnight London time. "This is presidency time," said Straw amid laughter from journalists.

There is one-hour time difference between Luxembourg and London.

It is believed that the symbolic first session ushered in decade-long talks that may become very tough at times.

Cyprus might be the biggest political hurdle in Ankara's way to the EU. Turkey refuses to recognize the Greek-Cypriot government in the south, which represents the whole Republic of Cyprus in the EU, and wants independence of the Turkish-Cypriot north.

Under EU rules, however, a candidate state must recognize all its existing member states.

The dispute was shelved last month when the EU governments issued a compromise counterstatement, allowing Turkey to recognize Cyprus before it formally joins the EU.

Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos reportedly boasted that he had more than 60 "little vetoes" in the process of Turkey's entry talks.

A recent amendment to France's constitution further raised the threshold for Turkey's accession: all EU enlargement after 2007 must be put to referendum in France.

To win the hearts of ordinary EU citizens may prove to be a more arduous task for Turkey than to win approval of EU political leaders.

The biggest problem is religion: Turkey is predominantly a Muslim country while the EU is basically Christian.

Turkey is seen as non-European with different values and therefore difficult to absorb.

Attitudes toward Turkish membership are generally negative in the three most powerful EU states. A poll last month by the German Marshall Fund of the United States put support for the idea at 11 percent in France, 15 percent in Germany and 32 percent in Britain.

Politically, Austria, which stalled the beginning of the accession talks for the past few months, will take over the EU presidency in the second half of the year.

Austria is seen to be less enthusiastic than Britain, whose prime minister Tony Blair, together with France's Jacques Chirac and Germany's Gerhard Schroeder, championed Turkey's membership talks.

In France, presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy is known to be against Turkey's EU membership. In Germany, Angela Merkel, who is wrangling with Schroeder for leadership in EU's largest economy, held a position similar to that of Austria -- Turkey shall be granted something short of full membership.
 
Across Europe, there is concern that with a large population of 72 million which is growing, Turkey might become the largest country in the EU, if it can join successfully. As seats in the European Parliament are allocated in accordance with the size of the member states, Turkey's voice might be loud in Europe.

There are economic fears as well. Turkey is a large, poor country with GNP at only 27 percent of the EU average. Once it is allowed into the EU, it may become a heavy financial burden.

The start of Turkey's accession negotiations is also believed to be ill-timed as the EU itself is divided on its constitution and a budget for 2007-13.

Two of the three champions for the negotiations -- Schroeder and Chirac -- both face domestic problems: Schroeder is struggling to hold on to power while Chirac is shifting his attention to containing Sarkozy.

Gul, however, expressed optimism on Tuesday. He told the press conference that his country is fast reforming, therefore, "the China of Europe".

He said Turkey will be different in 10 years from now and will become an asset of the EU. He also promised to continue the reforms required by EU membership.

There might be sense in Gul's words. After all, few people could anticipate an EU whose border would have touched the shores of the Black Sea half a century after it first took shape as a six-nation coal and steel union.

But for Turkey, enormous difficulties are expected in the way ahead.

(Xinhua News Agency October 5, 2005)