EU urges Turkey to keep its word on Cyprus
EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn has urged Turkey to open its ports and airspace to Cypriot ships and planes, if it wants to proceed smoothly with membership talks.
Ankara agreed to extend a customs union agreement to the EU's new member states, including the divided island of Cyprus, before officially launching membership talks last October.
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Following the first EU "troika" meeting on Turkey this week, commissioner Rehn said "We have kept our word and opened up accession negotiations. Now we expect Turkey to keep its word by implementing the protocol," according to agency reports.
He stressed the EU executive will file its regular evaluation report in October and the conclusion that Ankara is not fulfilling its obligations could lead to "negative consequences."
Without clarifying what kind of steps the EU could take, he added "Let's not paint the devil on the wall. Turkey has all the chances of avoiding negative repercussions."
Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul told Turkish media he had referred to Ankara's action plan on how to resolve the dispute when talking about the issue with the EU delegation.
"I told them that now we’re waiting for steps from the Greek Cypriots," he said.
Turkey aims to start actual negotiation with the EU in the first half of 2006, and Austrian foreign minister Ursula Plassnik hinted there will not be a delay in those plans, Turkish media report.
But Mr Rehn warned in Vienna on Wednesday (8 March) that the whole process could get complicated with a decision on every single issue as the member states theoretically have 71 veto rights during the process.
"It is important that there is no necessity for vetoes. We should make all efforts not to have any such cases. Both sides should intensively work so that negative developments in the Cyprus issue do not affect the negotiation process," said Mr Rehn.
Cyprus has been divided into a Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish Cypriot north since the 1974 invasion of Turkish troops after a Greek Cypriot coup engineered by Greece.
The internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, following a failed referendum on a UN reunification plan which was rejected by the Greek Cypriots and approved by the Turkish Cypriots.