NICOSIA, 1 September 2005 — Cyprus threatened yesterday to block the start of Turkey’s EU accession negotiations if an EU response to Ankara’s refusal to recognize the island fell short of Nicosia’s expectations. “If it is not satisfactory then the negotiating framework of the EU with Turkey will not be discussed,” said Cypriot government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides, referring to an informal summit of EU foreign ministers meeting in Newport, Wales, today.
“If there is no debate and agreement on the negotiating framework the (accession) negotiations will not start,” he said in response to a question. Turkey signed a key protocol extending its EU customs union with all 10 new member states in July, but angered Nicosia by stating it did not imply recognition of Cyprus.
Ankara does not have diplomatic relations with Cyprus’ Greek-Cypriot government, which represents the whole of the island in the EU. It recognizes a breakaway Turkish-Cypriot state in Cyprus’ north, territory it invaded in 1974 in response to a brief Greek-Cypriot coup engineered by the military then governing Greece.
Nicosia wants an EU response clearly outlining that Turkey’s non-recognition declaration has no legal significance and that Ankara adopt the customs union protocol with the island immediately.
“The British (EU) presidency undertook to present a draft of a counter-declaration which was tabled this afternoon. In our view, despite some of the positive elements it contains, the draft is unacceptable and not satisfactory at all,” Chrysostomides said.
“There was no display of the necessary objectivity or impartiality. On the contrary there were attempts to introduce into this statement elements of the British policy (on Cyprus),” he said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday dismissed the idea of a “partnership” between Ankara and the European Union rather than full EU membership as “illegitimate and immoral.”
Suggestions have come from some EU quarters that Turkey should accept a partnership somewhat short of full accession, but Gul said Ankara was not prepared to accept anything less than unfettered membership in the 25-nation union.
“I find such an offer illegitimate and immoral,” Gul said of the partnership proposal in an interview with the Turkish Daily News. “This nullifies our common effort of half a century. It also has the potential to handicap the future of our relations.” Turkey is scheduled to begin formal membership negotiations with the European Union on Oct. 3, but the talks risk becoming complicated by Ankara’s refusal fully to recognize Cyprus, an EU member since May last year.
Turkey last month signed an EU protocol accepting a customs union with the 10 countries that joined the bloc last year, but simultaneously issued an additional protocol asserting that its signature did not signify recognition of the Cypriot government.
Gul said he regretted that “a long-term issue as crucial as Turkey’s future integration with Europe is being exploited for short-term domestic political calculations by some circles.”
Gul’s remarks were also a riposte to politicians such as German conservative leader Angela Merkel and France’s Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, a possible presidential contender, who have expressed opposition to Turkey’s full membership.
Both French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin have this week called on Ankara to clarify its position on Cyprus. “I have stressed the fact that for a candidate country to want to enter into a union in which it doesn’t recognize one of the members poses a political problem,” de Villepin told French ambassadors in Paris on Tuesday.
