title: Brexit deal could be template for EU ties to Ukraine, Turkey, Germany's Gabriel says
text: BERLIN (Reuters) - An EU agreement with Britain on relations after Brexit could serve as a model for ties with other countries that want to be as close as possible to the bloc but are not yet ready to join, such as Ukraine and Turkey, Germany s foreign minister said. Britain secured the go-ahead from Brussels to start talks on its future relationship with the EU earlier this month, with London saying it aspires to a closer relationship as a former member than that of any other third country. In an interview with the Funke newspaper group published on Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said such a deal could offer a solution to the puzzle of how the bloc of 27 can manage its ties with two other large non-members.  I can t imagine Turkey or Ukraine becoming EU members in the next few years,  he said.  If we get a smart agreement with Britain regulating relations with Europe after Brexit, that could be a model for other countries - Ukraine and also Turkey.  Turkey, a candidate for EU membership for decades, already has a customs union with the EU which allows the trade of most goods without tariffs.  One possibility would be to offer Ankara a  new, closer form of the customs union , Gabriel said, although he also said such a project would have to wait for changes in Turkey s political environment. Thousands of people, including German citizens, have been detained in Turkey as part of a government crackdown since a failed coup in 2016. An agreement between the EU and Ukraine on a  deep and comprehensive free trade area  formally came into force in September, aimed at allowing free trade of goods, services and capital, and visa-free travel for people for short stays. Ukraine s desire for closer ties with the EU was one of the driving forces behind a popular revolt that toppled a pro-Russian president in 2014, leading Moscow to seize Ukraine s Crimea peninsula and back pro-Russian separatists in a still-unresolved conflict in the east of the country. Gabriel s Social Democratic Party (SPD) is preparing for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives on governing together for another four years. 