June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Germany and France will work together to help Turkey secure membership talks with the European Union if an October report by the European Commission recommends they should start, said German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Germany expects the commission's report to be positive and EU members should support Turkey's application, Schroeder told reporters after he and French President Jacques Chirac met Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Istanbul.

``We made clear that if the commission report is positive, then at the end of the year we must agree that negotiations will start,'' he said. ``All those who don't want to grant Turkey EU entry should think again. We think there will be a positive progress report'' from the commission.

Turkey, the only candidate of the EU with a mainly Muslim population, says it's done enough to begin talks early next year. Europe's leaders will decide in December whether the nation, with a population of 70 million, has met the EU's criteria on human rights and democracy.

Chirac yesterday rebuked U.S. President George W. Bush for calling on the EU to start the talks, saying he had ``strayed into territory that is not his.'' Some politicians in countries including France, Germany and Austria say Turkey isn't European enough to join the bloc in terms of its culture and history.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Bentley in Istanbul on at mbentley3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 29, 2004 07:56 EDT