US President Barack Obama has thrown his backing behind Turkey's bid to join the European Union before being slapped down by French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy for intervening in the bloc's affairs.

Mr Obama, due to fly to Turkey after attending an EU-US summit in the Czech Republic, said that Turkey's membership of the 27-nation bloc would firmly wrap the mainly Muslim nation into the Western fold.

"The United States and Europe must approach Muslims as our friends, neighbours and partners in fighting injustice, intolerance and violence," he said in his address to European Union leaders at a summit in Prague.

"Moving forward towards Turkish membership in the EU would be an important signal of your commitment to this agenda and ensure that we continue to anchor Turkey firmly in Europe."

The US has long supported Turkey's efforts to become a member of the EU which have made slow progress in the last four years.

Turkey has long been regarded as a key US ally and is already a member of NATO, although relations did cool during the presidency of George W Bush when the US invaded neighbouring Iraq.

Mr Obama's trip to Turkey, his first to a mainly Muslim country, is seen as part of an effort to pin it down in the Western camp after fears that it may be slipping away.

However a number of EU countries, most notably France, have been outspoken in their opposition to Turkey's membership of their organisation, worried about the cost of absorbing such a large and relatively poor country.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/06/2535446.htm?section=justin