The European Union urged Turkey to break out of a cycle of political crisis by enacting reforms to prepare for EU membership, and praised its regional peacemaking role.

The 27-nation bloc's Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn urged Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan to resume EU reforms at full speed after the government survived an attempt by hardline secular prosecutors to shut down the ruling AK party.

The Constitutional Court last month narrowly failed to reach the necessary majority to ban the party, which has its roots in political Islam, after months of uncertainty which shook Turkish markets and the lira currency.

"We have urged Turkey to reform the law on political parties as a matter of urgency to avoid this sort of severe political crisis in the future," Mr Rehn told Reuters after the two men met on the sidelines of an EU foreign ministers' meeting in France.

They also discussed the conflict in Georgia and Turkey's proposals for a platform to stabilise the Caucasus region, and its efforts to mediate in Israeli-Syrian peace talks.

"Turkey's active diplomacy towards Syria, the Middle East, Armenia and the Caucasus show its paramount importance as our partner in advancing regional stability in one of the most unstable parts of the world," Mr Rehn said.

The EU accession process would further facilitate joint work by the EU and Turkey to stabilise those regions, he said.

Babacan said he outlined Turkey's plans to take forward its EU accession process, which has been stymied by disputes over Cyprus and resistance by France to the goal of eventual Turkish membership of the bloc.

He said Turkey expected to open negotiations on two more policy areas with the EU under the current French presidency of the bloc, which lasts till the end of the year, taking the total number of subjects under discussion to 10 out of the 35 chapters into which EU law is divided.

Babacan said Turkey was fully prepared to start talks on a range of other issues, including economic and monetary policy, energy, education and culture, and foreign policy, but was being blocked by political obstacles in the EU.

Despite the political crisis, the Turkish parliament passed 29 EU-related laws in the session that ended in July, and a national programme for EU convergence would be submitted to parliament when it returns from recess on October 7, he said.

"We know very well what is expected from us and what we need to do anyway. We have every reason to push ahead with our reform agenda," the minister told Reuters in an interview.

Mr Rehn said he encouraged the Turkish government to improve political dialogue with opposition forces so that more reforms could be enacted by consensus. He has urged Ankara to finally enact an EU-driven law introducing an ombudsman, which could take some of the sting out of religious-secular issues.

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