Denying the Turks accession to the European Union would be "an injustice" since Turkey, as a key member of NATO, has helped ensure European security for the past 50 years

Denying the Turks accession to the European Union would be "an injustice" since Turkey, as a key member of NATO, has helped ensure European security for the past 50 years, Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg said in interview published Sunday. Speaking three days before the start of his official two-day visit to Spain, the Bulgarian leader told the Spanish daily El Pais: "To reject them would be an injustice. The issue is whether they meet the accession criteria." "For 50 years, Turkey has been one of the most importants players in NATO. Turkey has a role to play in Europe. It's our neighbor. How can we tell them: You have been Europeans when you could defend us and now, no ? It's unacceptable," he added. Bulgaria, who recently joined NATO, is itself a candidate for EU membership. Saxe-Coburg, a former monarch who lived in exile in Spain for 55 years before returning to his country after the fall of communism, also stressed that Bulgaria "had been part of this (Ottoman ) empire (now Turkey) for five centuries." "It's a very big neighbor with a phenomenal economic potential," he added.