Turkey faces a tense wait today to discover whether it will be invited to talks on EU membership, after European foreign ministers failed to reach agreement last night on the ground rules. An intense round of negotiations in Luxembourg broke up shortly before midnight after Austria refused to abandon its demand for Turkey to be offered an "alternative" to full EU membership.

Jack Straw, who will resume discussions today, said early this morning: "It is a frustrating situation. But I hope and pray that we may be able to reach agreement."

The failure to reach agreement is a blow to Britain, which is Ankara's greatest champion in the EU, and leaves Abdullah Gul, the Turkish foreign minister, kicking his heels back home. He had been due to fly to Luxembourg today for the start of accession talks. Asked whether there would be deal today, one senior British official said: "God knows."

Britain and Turkey stepped up pressure for a deal yesterday by warning that Europe would spark a "clash of civilisations" between the Muslim and Christian worlds if it scuppers Ankara's 40-year dream of joining the European Union.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, said: "Either [the EU] will show political maturity and become a global power, or it will end up a Christian club ... We will, however, be saddened that a project for the alliance of civilisations will be harmed."

Mr Straw last night insisted that Turkey had met conditions set last December for today's talks to begin. "The EU and the European people have always seen Turkey as a European state," he said. "The heavy responsibility rests on all member states."

Britain, which is chairing the EU, was forced to convene last night's meeting after Austria blocked an agreement on the ground rules for the membership talks.

The discussions were adjourned on several occasions to allow Mr Straw to hold one-to-one meetings with his Austrian counterpart, Ursula Plassnik, and to allow her to consult Chancellor Wolfgang Schssel in Vienna. The British were also briefing the Turks on proposed changes to the "negotiating framework".

Vienna, which says it is reflecting widespread unease across Europe, wants to abandon a pledge by EU leaders last year to pursue a "shared objective" to grant Ankara full membership. Austria is pressing for a more sophisticated form of Turkey's current associate membership to be offered from the outset of the talks - rather than the current plan to discuss this at the end if the negotiations fail.

Turkey says it will settle for nothing less than full membership.In a sign of the tensions, Mr Erdogan confronted the Austrian ambassador at a parliamentary reception. "If you continue to play politics like this, you'll fail in the next election," the prime minister said.

Mr Schssel, whose party suffered an election defeat, losing the Styria province for the first time since 1945, believes he is voicing the private misgivings of bigger member states, such as France and Germany. Vienna says Britain cannot rely on last December's agreement because the landscape was transformed by this summer's rejection of the EU constitution by French and Dutch voters, who expressed grave unease about Turkey.

Austrian opposition to Turkey was reflected yesterday by a poll, published by the Austria Press Agency, which found that 73% of Austrians believed that Turkey could not join because cultural differences were too big. Just over half - 54% - of people polled across the EU felt the same.

Yesterday, Greece, Turkey's historic adversary but now a supporter of Ankara's EU bid, spoke strongly in favour. Joschka Fischer, the outgoing German foreign minister, made an impassioned speech in which he said Europe could not abandon its commitment to Turkey. Catherine Colonna, the French Europe minister also spoke in Turkey's favour.