President Barack Obama arrived in Turkey late Sunday, after riling the European Union by urging its leaders to accept the large and mainly Muslim nation as a member.

Washington has long supported EU membership for Turkey, a prickly yet strategic U.S. ally. Mr. Obama said Sunday at an EU-U.S. summit in Prague that pushing forward with membership would "ensure we continue to anchor Turkey firmly in Europe."


Turkish protestors held banners reading "Obama go home" during a demonstration Sunday. The U.S. president urged the European Union to accept Turkey, a large and mainly Muslim nation, as a member.

But coming just a day after Turkey forced a series of concessions from fellow members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization before accepting their choice of a Dane to head the alliance, Mr. Obama's appeal drew a sharp response from French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"I have been working hand in hand with President Obama, but when it comes to the European Union it's up to member states of the European Union to decide" on membership, Mr. Sarkozy told French television from Prague. "I have always been opposed to this entry, and I remain opposed."

Turkey has started membership talks with the EU, but the process has been partially frozen because of opposition from members including France, Germany and Cyprus.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, otherwise effusive about Mr. Obama's performance in Prague on Sunday, also said coolly that there were "different opinions" on how to strengthen the relationship between Turkey, a nation of 70 million, and the EU. "We're still talking about that," she said.

At a NATO summit that finished on Saturday, European leaders commited some 5,000 new troops to go to Afghanistan, but the pledge fell well short of the contribution the U.S. sought. Most of the new European troops, around 3,000, are temporary, meant to secure elections in Afghanistan in the fall. Most of the rest are military trainers for the Afghan army.

As part of Saturday's deal -- brokered by Mr. Obama -- to accept Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the military alliance's next secretary general, Turkey secured a promise from the EU to reopen two areas of negotiation that had been frozen in the talks, among other concessions.

A European Union diplomat familiar with the talks said the attitude of EU members toward Turkish membership had darkened noticeably after the NATO dispute. Some EU countries' leaders saw that as confirmation of their suspicion that Turkey wouldn't act as a team player once inside the EU.

"More and more EU countries have doubts about Turkish accession," said the diplomat. "The mood at the table was grumpy."

Turkey, which has NATO's second-largest military force after the U.S., is the alliance's sole predominantly Muslim member. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had argued strongly that the choice of Mr. Rasmussen -- who has defended a Danish cartoonist whose images of the prophet Mohammed sparked riots across the Muslim world -- would make NATO's tasks more difficult in places such as Afghanistan.

Despite the ruffled feathers in Europe, Mr. Obama's choice of Turkey as the first Muslim country he will visit as president has left the nation giddy.

The weekend newspapers had pictures of Mr. Obama splashed across the front pages. "He stands for change. He stands for freedom. I like him a lot," said Guray Altan, a 22-year-old political science student, as he gave two thumbs up to the U.S. leader's visit.

Nonetheless, a small group of leftist protestors opposed to NATO held demonstrations in Ankara and Istanbul on Sunday morning to protest Mr. Obama's visit. They chanted "Obama Go Home" and waved Turkish flags.

During last year's presidential campaign, Mr. Obama promised to recognize the 1915 slaughter of Armenians in what is now central and eastern Turkey as genocide, a label Turkey fiercely disputes.

White House officials say Mr. Obama is expected to address the killings in talks with Turkish leaders, but to avoid using the term genocide, a move that would cause popular outrage in Turkey. The issue is complicated by the fact that Turkey is in negotiations to reopen its border with Armenia after 15 years, an outcome the U.S. wants but which could be scuttled should Mr. Obama recognize the killings as genocide.