Turkey, rejected, will freeze ties to European Union.

Reports that after the European Union (EU) rejected membership talks on December 11, 1997, Turkey's Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz asserted that his government would freeze its political contacts with the EU and seek a strategic partnership with the United States. Strategy of rapprochement that the EU offered Turkey; Factors that contributed to the EU's rejection; Islamic leaders condemnation of Turkey's military ties to Israel; EU's criticism of Turkey's human rights record.