TURKEY RESUMED ACCESSION TALKS WITH EU

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.06.2008

Turkey has resumed its European Union accession talks. The agenda
includes legislative issues referring to property and company
rights. The whole process will take no less than 10 years, the
RFE/RL reports.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan claims that some states
pose artificial obstacles to the accession process. "We launched
talks on agriculture, transport, foreign policy and 15 other
directions. However, certain states hamper the process," he said.

Turkey opened accession talks with the EU in 2005 but progress has
since been very slow. In 2006 the EU suspended accession talks with
Ankara on eight chapters because of Ankara’s refusal to open its
ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus. Ankara says it
is ready to open the ports and airports in return for EU steps to
ease trade restrictions on the Turkish Cypriots. The EU Commission
proposed direct trade with the Turkish Cypriots in 2004 after they
voted for a UN plan to reunite the island but the proposal, vetoed
by the Greek Cypriots, have never been approved.