Turkey's prospects of receiving an early date for talks on entry to the European Union are in the balance today, as EU leaders meet in Copenhagen for a summit to launch the union's biggest enlargement.  With strong pressure from the US for a favourable outcome for its strategic Nato ally, and high expectations from the new government in Ankara, the stakes could hardly be higher.  But receding chances for a speedy peace settlement in Cyprus cast a cloud over the summit, whose main mission is to invite 10 new members, eight of them from eastern Europe, to join and erase cold war boundaries.  Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of Turkey's newly elected Islamist Justice and Development party, said on arriving here from the US that he was confident that EU leaders would award his country "an appropriate date by the end of 2003". EU diplomats believe that he may have been influenced by powerful backing from Washington and has underestimated divisions within the union, which is worried about the European credentials of a poor and populous Muslim country.  "This summit will not finish without giving a powerful country like Turkey . . . a date to begin negotiations," Mr Erdogan predicted confidently.  Earlier, he was reported as saying: "If the EU doesn't accept us then we will find a solution on our own," and telling President George Bush that Turkey could join the North Atlantic Free Trade Area.  It seems certain however, that Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, - all former communist countries - as well as Cyprus and Malta will join the EU in an unprecedented "big bang" in May 2004, posing difficult questions about how it will develop in future.  It is far less clear whether the pressure of expectations and time - the summit is due to end tomorrow but may well run into the weekend- will produce a satisfactory outcome for Turkey, desperate for an early date to start talks on joining what some EU politicians still see as a "Christian club".  President Bush kept up the pressure on the Copenhagen summit by calling the Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen yesterday.  "We will do our utmost to support the reform process in Turkey but at the same time, I stressed that according to the rules of the EU a candidate country must fulfil certain political criteria to get a date for the start of accession negotiations," Mr Rasmussen said later.  "I will not be pressured, but of course I listen carefully to those who offer me good advice. President Bush is well aware of the fact that this is a European decision," he added.  The US is supporting Turkey, crucial to any plans to invade neighbouring Iraq. So are Britain, Spain and Italy, the EU's most pro-American members. But others are distinctly lukewarm.  The majority support a Franco-German call to start accession negotiations in 2005 and then only if Turkey passes a human rights review in 2004.  Romano Prodi, the president of the European Commission, reflected these doubts, warning in Brussels against giving Turkey special treatment, and saying the EU had set out strict rules for all newcomers.  Hopes were also fading for a speedy resolution of the Cyprus dispute, where the union badly wants Ankara to bring pressure to bear.  Rauf Denktash, the ailing Turkish Cypriot leader, said bluntly that it would not be possible to reach agreement on the basis of a UN peace plan during the Danish summit, making it impossible for the island to join as a reunited single entity.  Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, had been considering flying to Copenhagen to support a deal, but that now seemed unlikely, UN officials said.  Mr Rasmussen, meanwhile, said he was confident the summit could finalise the laboriously negotiated enlargement package.  Like previous EU enlargements, its biggest-ever boils down to hard cash. Four years after negotiations began on issues ranging from financial services to the environment, the last unresolved issue is a demand that the newcomers be given the full euros 42.5bn (pounds 27bn) originally budgeted in 1999.  Denmark's "final" offer falls euros 2bn short of that, but the EU's main net contributors, led by Germany, insist they can afford no more.  Other problems have been resolved over ostensibly trivial but highly symbolic issues such as Baltic herrings, Maltese finches, Latvian lynx, and Czech potato starch. Classification Language: ENGLISH Subject: EUROPEAN UNION (91%); TALKS & MEETINGS (89%); EUROPEAN UNION ACCESSION (89%); MUSLIMS & ISLAM (88%); PRIME MINISTERS (78%); INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (78%); HEADS OF STATE & GOVERNMENT (78%); INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORGANIZATIONS (78%); COLD WAR (77%); INTERNATIONAL TRADE (73%); PEACE PROCESS (73%); DIPLOMATIC SERVICES (72%); POLITICS (70%) Company: EUROPEAN UNION (84%); EUROPEAN UNION (84%) Organization: EUROPEAN UNION (84%); EUROPEAN UNION (84%); EUROPEAN UNION (84%); EUROPEAN UNION (84%) Person: RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN (79%); ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN (62%); GEORGE W BUSH (56%) Geographic: COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (88%); ANKARA, TURKEY (79%); ATLANTIC OCEAN (58%); TURKEY (96%); UNITED STATES (95%); EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER STATES (94%); CYPRUS (92%); EUROPE (92%); ESTONIA (79%); SLOVENIA (79%); POLAND (79%); LATVIA (79%); DENMARK (79%); SPAIN (79%); CZECH REPUBLIC (79%); ITALY (79%); IRAQ (79%); HUNGARY (79%); LITHUANIA (79%); SLOVAKIA (79%); BALTIC STATES (79%); MALTA (73%); EASTERN EUROPE (58%)