Turkey Rejects EU Terms for Accession Talks

ANKARA, 3 August 2005 — Turkey has fulfilled all requirements to begin accession talks with the European Union and will not accept a new condition to recognize the Republic of Cyprus, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and government sources said yesterday.

“Turkey will never accept the recognition of the Greek Cypriots administration as a precondition to be able to begin membership negotiations with the European Union on Oct. 3,” a source close to the government, who requested anonymity, told AFP.

Gul also signaled that Ankara would not bow down to new demands, underlining that his country had met all criteria the EU outlined for the start of the talks.

“We now expect the EU to launch accession negotiations in line with the pledge it made on Dec. 17 and undersigned by all EU members,” Gul told reporters, the Anatolia news agency reported.

In a new complication to Ankara’s longstanding EU bid, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin asserted yesterday that Turkey must recognize Cyprus before it can begin accession talks.

“It seems to me inconceivable that such a negotiation process can begin with a country which does not recognize every one of the members of the European Union, that is to say the 25,” Villepin told Europe One radio.

Turkey refuses to endorse Cyprus’ internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot government, which joined the EU last year, and instead recognizes the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north of the island. It is the only country to do so.

Ankara last week signed a document extending an existing Turkey-EU customs union accord to 10 new EU members, including Cyprus, a crucial EU condition for the start of accession negotiations on Oct. 3.

Meanwhile, nine people, among them a French tourist, were injured yesterday when two small blasts ripped through garbage cans in the southern Mediterranean city of Antalya, one of Turkey’s most popular holiday destinations, police said.