BRITAIN has called an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers on Sunday evening in an effort to prevent membership talks with Turkey from collapsing only hours before they are scheduled to start.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, called the meeting in Brussels yesterday after negotiations failed to agree the terms of the entry talks, with Austria insisting that Turkey should be offered an alternative of “privileged partnership” rather than full membership.

Austria is also insisting that Croatia, which used to be under Austrian rule, must start EU entry talks at the same time as Turkey; but other member states are insisting that Croatia must first surrender its war criminals.

British efforts to ensure that the Turkish entry talks start on Monday have failed to stop high-stakes brinkmanship.

Abdullah Gul, the Turkish Foreign Minister, will have a plane on standby and be waiting in Ankara on Sunday night to learn whether he should fly to Luxembourg to start the talks at a celebratory lunch on Monday.

Last night Mr Gul said that the occasion may be delayed because Turkey would not have seen any negotiating framework agreed by EU ministers on Sunday night.

“Everyone knows there’s no point in going to Luxembourg without seeing this document,” he said. There were still so many issues to resolve that “there is a possibility that negotiations will not start”.

The EU agreed last December that Turkey should start its membership talks, but attitudes to the Muslim nation have hardened since.

Cyprus, an EU member that is occupied illegally by 35,000 Turkish troops, was recently persuaded not to veto the start of the talks with a declaration that Turkey must recognise the Government of Cyprus before it can join the Union.

France insisted on inserting language that emphasised that Turkey could join only if the EU is capable of absorbing the populous country, which would become the largest member of the Union.

Austria, whose capital was twice besieged by Ottoman forces, and where all significant political parties oppose Turkish membership, insists that it be made clear that the talks will not necessarily result in full membership, but a special partnership.

Turkey has threatened to walk away if the aim of the talks is changed in that way.

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