A woman walks past a painting by Turkish artist Burak Delier showing a woman wearing a chador made from an EU flag at an exhibition in Istanbul. (AFP)

Luxembourg, Oct. 4 (Reuters): Turkey and the EU struck an eleventh hour deal and launched membership talks today despite deep public scepticism over whether the wealthy western bloc would ever manage to absorb the populous Muslim nation.

The opening ceremony was delayed until after midnight yesterday by nearly two days of fierce wrangling over Austrian and Turkish objections to the EU’s proposed negotiating mandate, reflecting profound distrust on both sides.

“This is a win-win situation and the world will also win,” said a beaming Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul, echoing past Ankara statements that EU entry could bridge gaps between Christians and Muslims and help to halt Islamic militancy.

British foreign secretary Jack Straw hailed a “truly historic day” for the world after chairing the negotiations that stretched to the limit of an EU Monday deadline but said Turkey still had much to do on rights and democracy to meet bloc rules.

Straw said a “long road” of entry talks lay ahead, and this appeared to be underlined at the ceremony when Gul went straight to his seat, avoiding having to shake hands with ministers from Austria and Cyprus, which Turkey does not recognise.

“I trust the EU will overcome the scepticism which now exists within the Union (towards Turkey),” said Gul, signalling Ankara would talk tough if necessary.

Gul, whose country has waited more than four decades at the bloc’s door, had to stand by the phone all day in Ankara to find out whether EU nations could resolve differences for membership talks to start on yesterday as EU leaders set last December.

The US stepped in to support a deal and Austria eventually accepted the shared goal of talks would be accession, not the lesser “privileged partnership” that many conservatives and Christian Democrats across western Europe had sought.

In return, the 25-nation EU made clear its capacity to embrace the Nato nation on the borders of Europe and West Asia would be a factor in the pace of entry, as well as Ankara’s progress in meeting strict criteria on rights and other issues.

In the end Gul flew into Luxembourg shortly after midnight to hugs from EU officials and joined in jokes about a sleight of hand by the British, holders of the bloc’s rotating presidency, that the talks began on time as it was still Monday in Britain.

Turkey, whose population is 72 million, now faces a marathon effort to adapt its political, economic and social system and implement 80,000 pages of EU law. Negotiations are expected to last a decade.