COUNTDOWN TO TURKEY EU TALKS

Financial Mirror, Cyprus
Sept 28 2005

Barring any last minute hiccups, Turkey will start accession
negotiations on October 3 that are expected to last for at least ten
years and are unlikely to be smooth sailing.

One of the trickiest aspects will be transport, following Turkey’s
declaration that it does not recognise Cyprus and indications by
politicians that it has no intention of opening air and transport
routes to Cyprus.

A draft political declaration that will be studied by the COREPER
meeting of EU foreign ministers this week with the aim of presenting
it to Turkey when it starts EU accession negotiations next Monday,
will emphasise that Turkey’s progress in the negotiations will depend
in implementing its commitments.

According to CNA, part of the declaration says “The monitoring of
your commitments will become a key element for taking, in the Council
context, the necessary decisions on the conduct of negotiations with
you. Particular attention will be paid to the implementation of the
Protocol regarding the adaptation of the Ankara Agreement, on which
the EU’s position was set out in its Declaration of 20 September 2005”.

Turkey is therefore unlikely to be able to open the transport chapter
until the Ankara Protocol is implemented.

At the Maritime Cyprus Conference this week, Transport Commissioner
Jacques Barrot said “Personally, I think the chapter on transport,
which means free movement of goods, can’t be opened unless there is
a change on the part of the government of Turkey”.

Cyprus’ transhipment industry has suffered from the fact that it
cannot use Turkey’s ports.

Paragraph 4 of the draft declaration says “negotiations are taking
place in an Intergovernmental Conference with the participation of
all Member States, as well as your country”.

Following an attempt by a Turkish court to prevent a conference on the
Armenian genocide from taking place in Turkey last week, the draft
also underlines the need for Turkey towards “full implementation of
the pre-accession strategy and reforms, in particular as regards
strengthening the independence and functioning of the judiciary,
the overall framework for the exercise of fundamental freedoms
(association, expression and religion), cultural rights, the further
alignment of civil-military relations with European practice and the
situation in the Southeast of the country”.

It also calls on Turkey actively to promote regional stability.

In an attempt to incorporate Austria’s wishes that Turkey be offered
an alternative to full membership, to the draft says that member
states will decide whether the conditions are right to complete the
negotiations.