EU HOLDS TALKS ON TURKEY’S MEMBERSHIP

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.11.2009 14:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The European Union urged Turkey Thursday to open
its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels, ahead of a summit that may turn
up pressure on Ankara over its refusal to comply with the terms of
a trade pact with the bloc.

"It is very clear that the implementation (of the accord) is an
obligation for Turkey… and we will express ourselves on the issue
at a summit in December," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose
country holds the rotating EU presidency, told a press conference.

Bildt was part of a visiting EU delegation, including also Spain’s
state secretary for Europe Diego Lopez Garrido, whose country takes
over the presidency next year, and the EU representative in Turkey,
Marc Pierini.

The delegation held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
and the country’s chief negotiator in EU membership talks, Egemen
Bagis, to review progress in the country’s struggling membership bid.

Turkey refuses to allow Greek Cypriot vessels use its air and sea
ports under a customs union pact with the bloc on grounds the EU has
failed to keep promises to ease the international isolation of the
breakaway Turkish Cypriots.

Davutoglu said the problem would be resolved "not by exerting
unilateral pressure on Turkey, but by finding a comprehensive, just
and durable solution to the Cyprus conflict."

The EU has already punished Ankara by freezing accession talks in
eight of the 35 policy areas that candidates must complete.

In a newspaper interview this month, Cyprus President Demetris
Christofias hinted his country might seek more sanctions against
Turkey at the December summit.

Some analysts however believe the EU will refrain from tough measures,
wary not to raise fresh tensions and undermine UN-sponsored peace
talks between the Turkish and Greek communities in Cyprus aimed at
ending the island’s 35-year division.

The talks began in September 2008, but progress has been slow and
the two sides remain deeply divided on key issues.

Turkey is bitter that the Greek Cypriots, whose government is the
island’s internationally recognized administration, were admitted
into the EU in 2004 despite voting down a UN peace plan, while the
Turkish Cypriots – who gave the plan an overwhelmingly support –
were left out in the cold.

Since starting membership negotiations in 2005, Ankara has opened talks
only in 11 of the 35 policy areas. The process has been slowed down
also by opposition by some EU members, notably France and Germany,
who argue that the populous and relatively poor Muslim-majority
country should be given a special status rather than membership.

The EU officials Thursday welcomed a reform plan drawn up by Ankara to
expand the freedoms of its Kurdish minority in a bid to end a bloody
25-year insurgency in the southeast.

Garrido said Spain was hoping to secure progress in Turkey’s accession
talks when it takes over the EU presidency on January 1. "The political
reforms explained today by the two Turkish ministers is a very good
process to get Turkey closer to the EU… Spain has the intention
to open new chapters, not to slow down the negotiations," he said,
AFP reported.