The minister, Osman Pepe, also slammed European Union pressure on Ankara to comply with higher environmental norms, which he said failed to take into account the country's need to speed up economic progress.

"Turkey cannot sign this (Kyoto) treaty. We already need to invest 30-35 billion dollars" for environmental protection, Pepe told the Hurriyet newspaper. "Under these conditions, Turkey may sign the Kyoto treaty in 2015 at the earliest."

The Kyoto Protocol took effect Wednesday, supported by 141 nations but boycotted by the world's biggest polluter, the United States.

The Protocol requires industrialized countries that have signed and ratified it to reduce or stabilize their emissions of six greenhouse" gases, the most important of which is carbon dioxide (CO2).

Pressure to comply with EU environmental standards is one of the toughest issues Turkey will face when it starts negotiations to join the Union later this year.

"Turkey is in a process of industrializing, therefore it is among the countries with the highest carbon dioxide emissions," Pepe told Hurriyet.

"They (the EU) have industrialized and now they turn to us and tell us to protect nature. It is not possible to accept that."

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