President Bush’s attempts to help Turkey because of its vital strategic role in the war against terrorism backfired when the country was given only a conditional date of the end of 2004 for the start of negotiations, with several countries accusing the American leader of strong-arm tactics.

Abdullah Gul, the Turkish Prime Minister, accused the French President of turning the EU against his country. He telephoned Tony Blair to tell him that “there is great discrimination here” and said, according to officials, that it was “an act of prejudice”.

Angered by M Chirac’s criticism of Turkish negotiating tactics, he added: “The real blackmail is what Chirac has done. I am very disappointed that Chirac has influenced and directed the meeting.”

EU officials, led by France, were appalled at apparent interference by Washington in Europe’s internal affairs. Pascal Lamy, the trade commissioner — a Frenchman with strong ties to the US — said: “It’s a classic of US diplomacy to want to put Turkey in Europe. The further the boundaries of Europe extend the better US interests are served. Can you imagine the reaction if we told them they had to enlarge into Mexico?”

Although the outcome was a severe disappointment to Turkey, Britain led efforts to convince its leaders that they had secured a good deal. British ministers insisted that Mr Bush’s moves to influence EU leaders with telephone calls had not been counter-productive.

They said that only a few weeks ago Turkey had little or no chance of getting a date for entry talks. Now talks could begin at the end of 2004, if the EU accepted that Turkey had carried out its promised human rights reforms.

Mr Blair was among six leaders who had pressed for the talks date to be early in 2004 but he made the best of the decision. “Turkey would have liked an earlier date but for 40 years Turkey has been wanting a firm date and this is a firm date,” he said, adding that the negotiations might be opened earlier if Ankara fulfilled human rights criteria.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said: “This is a pretty good deal for Turkey. They were expecting something in 2005, 2006.” But the delay appeared to be another obstacle in the way of a deal to reunite Cyprus. Rauf Denktas, the Turkish Cypriot leader, accused the EU yesterday of seeking to build a “Christian fortress” around Turkey.

Cyprus is due to enter the EU in May 2004 and would be able to veto Turkey’s application if a satisfactory settlement has not been reached.

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