Ankara: US President George W Bush pledged today (June 27, 2004) that he will fight for Turkey to become a member of the European Union, and praised the country as a Muslim nation, which embraces Democracy and the rule of law.

He held out Turkey as a model for the Middle East as he met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the start of an official visit to Turkey a day before a summit in Istanbul of the 26-member NATO alliance.

Bush, on his first-ever trip to Turkey, ignored reporters' questions about the abduction in Iraq of three Turkish workers by supporters of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born terrorist believed to have ties to al-Qaeda.

The kidnappers reportedly threatened to behead the Turks within 72 hours.

A White House spokesman, Sean McCormack, said: "We're in close contact with the Turkish Government on the issue. It is an awful reminder of the barbaric nature of these terrorists, but their acts will not shake the will of free people everywhere."

Bush's visit to Turkey is officially meant to examine ways to strengthen NATO, but he is also using it to bolster the U S relationship with Turkey, a key ally in the region and in the campaign against terrorism.

There was no mention during Bush's visit of the Turkish Parliament's rejection last year of a US request to let U S troops use Turkish bases as a staging point to invade Iraq from the north.