PanARMENIAN.Net

With no solution to Cyprus and Armenian issues, Turkey’s EU prospects
out of question
01.11.2008 15:45 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Daniel Gros, director of the Brussels-based Center
for European Policy Studies, warned Turkey it would need to get things
moving.

`Turkey is losing time,’ said Gros, adding that he has seen no
progress in Turkey’s reform process for EU membership. `The two big
stumbling blocks, Cyprus and Armenia, sooner or later have to be
resolved.’

`The later Turkey takes steps on the Cyprus issue, the more difficult
it will become as each year passes,’ Gros said. `If there is no
solution to the Cyprus and Armenian issues, we will not be able to
speak about Turkey’s EU prospects.’

The Armenian issue is, `a secondary question,’ because it is not a
member of the EU, Gros added, placing the emphasis on Cyprus. He said
he remained optimistic over the future of northern Cyprus. `As long as
northern Cyprus develops nicely, which it seems to be doing now, over
time it will become a de facto state and this reality will be
recognized,’ Gros said, the Turkish Daily News reports.