EuroNews – English Version
October 13, 2006

Coaxing angry Turkey to open ports to all EU-25

The French storm over Armenian deaths under Turkish rule in the last
century continues. In newspapers and public places, echoes of outrage
ricocheted from Ankara to Strasbourg to Paris… and Helsinki. The
Turkish prime minister said he was studying reprisal possibilities
after the French parliament approved a bill making it a crime to deny
that Armenians suffered a genocide.

While it moved to calm tempers, the EU nevertheless urged Ankara to
respect its customs protocol commitments to all the bloc’s members.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso made no secret of
his feelings: "We of course have to respect all the decisions taken
by the parliament in France, but let me tell you very frankly: I
don’t think this decision at this moment is helpful in the context of
the European Union relations with Turkey."

The Commission has warned of a "train crash" in Turkey’s membership
talks unless Ankara speeds reforms and opens its ports to shipping
from Cyprus. This is part of a customs protocol which the Turks have
signed but refuse to implement: Ending Turkish Cypriot isolation on
the divided island is unconditional, the Turkish side has said.

Turkish Economics Minister Ali Babacan was in Brussels on Thursday.
He said: "We believe that the improvements in one area also help the
improvements in the other area. When I say areas, I mean on the one
hand the protocol of Ankara and on the other hand the isolation of
northern Cyprus."

A plan floated by the Finnish EU presidency envisages Turkey opening
some ports and Turkish Cypriots being allowed to trade directly with
the outside world through a port run jointly, under EU supervision by
Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The Greek Cypriot government, which
joined the EU in 2004, has threatened to veto Turkey’s EU entry talks
if Ankara does not act to open its ports by the end of this year.
Brussels is to report on November 8 on Turkey’s progress towards the
EU and the bloc’s leaders will decide in December what to do.