Tony Blair has visited Turkey for accession talks where he signed a joint memorandum on the war against terrorism and pledged to help the country in its bid to become a full member of the EU.

The prime minister travelled to Ankara on Monday for the first in a series of annual UK-Turkey summits.

He met President Ahmet Sezer and prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks focusing on Turkey's progress towards eligibilty for EU membership.

European leaders are expected to make a final decision on whether the country should begin the accession process by the end of this year.

Britain backed Turkey's ambitions to become a full member of the EU amid strong reservations from some other European nations about the country's human rights record and whether it can be considered "European" - often seen as a code word for Christian.

The government continues to believe that Turkey's inclusion would send a positive message that would outweigh such concerns.

Ahead of the trip Downing Street said that it was important to show that "a stable Islamic democracy would be welcome in the EU".

And Blair insisted "Britain wants to see Turkey in the European Union".

"We have been proud to champion that cause in the past few years," he said.

"I hope, following the [EU] Commission's report, that negotiations can begin in December."

He added that as long as the countrymeets the same criteria as other applicants "there should be no objection to Turkey's membership".

Cyprus

The talks also touched on the situation in Iraq and the Middle East, as well as the continuing problem of Cyprus.

Blair paid tribute to the work of Kofi Annan in putting together a reunification plan for the island, despite it being rejected in a referendum.

"It is important that we end the isolation of Northern Cyprus," the prime minister said.

"We will work closely with the Turkish government and other European Union partners to bring this about."

He added that "any agreement is going to be based on the Annan plan".

Three bombs exploded in Ankara and Instanbul ahead of the visit, where the two governments signed a memorandum of understanding on security.