The long-running dispute between new EU member Cyprus and Turkey had threatened to halt the process at the first hurdle, with Cyprus insisting that Turkey recognize it. But EU foreign ministers managed to hammer out a carefully-worded compromise paving the way for the vast mostly-Muslim state to start concrete talks eight months after it secured a landmark green light from the EU, despite public skepticism.

"We confirm the agreement," said a spokesman for the EU's current Austrian presidency, after the deal was struck after a relatively short morning of wrangling in Luxembourg.

Cyprus veto

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who had insisted on staying in Ankara until a deal was reached, was expected to fly in later in the day for the formal ceremony opening the talks.

Ankara won an EU green light last October to start membership talks, but only allaying critics who wanted Turkey to be offered a "privileged partnership" rather than full EU membership.

But Cyprus, which as a member state has power of veto, had been refusing to agree to the first detailed talks until Turkey recognizes the Greek Cypriot government and fully implements the so-called Ankara protocol.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey occupied the northern third in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup seeking to unite the island with Greece.

Recognition from Ankara

Monday's talks focused on science and research, the first and possibly the least contentious of 35 policy "chapters" to be covered during negotiations with Ankara which are expected to last at least a decade.

The Greek-Cypriot government had pressed for the accord with Turkey to include an explicit reference to the need for Ankara's recognition, and ratification of the Ankara pact to allow Cypriot ships and planes into Turkey. But other EU states had argued for simply a reference in the text to an EU declaration made last September which itself set out in details the demands.

In the event the key paragraph at the center of the diplomatic dispute steered a fine line between the two versions -- but included a clear warning to Ankara.

"The EU underlines the importance for Turkey of compliance with the Associate Agreement, including its additional protocol and the customs union," it said. "Failure to implement its obligations in full will affect the overall progress in the negotiations. With this in mind, the Union underlines all relevant elements of the (EU) declaration of September 21, 2005," it added.

Public resistance to enlargement

More broadly, Turkey's EU hopes have been seriously clouded by the institutional turmoil into which the European bloc was plunged last year, when French and Dutch voters torpedoed the EU's hard-fought constitution. Public skepticism over EU enlargement, and specifically over plans to take in a vast mostly Muslim country so vastly different from mainland Europe, was widely cited as a reason for the "no" votes.

"We're in a different game now. Everyone's much more cautious," said one diplomat.

There was no immediate reaction from Ankara to the deal in Luxembourg.

But in a sign of the tension, Turkey's prime minister warned shortly before the accord was announced that failure to launch the talks could lead Ankara to change its policies towards the bloc.

If a political approach overshadows the screening process, our approach to the subsequent process will be very different," said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, adding: "We will create new policies. It will not be a problem."