Cyprus membership hinges on Turkey, says EU

THE 28-year long division of Cyprus is close to being resolved according to diplomats at the EU summit in Copenhagen last night.

But any resolution hinges on Turkey getting an acceptable date for negotiations on EU membership today.

"They will wait to hear what the date is before doing a deal on Cyprus," one Greek Cypriot diplomat said.

The US which is hoping for Turkey's backing in any war against Iraq is putting increased pressure on the EU to give Turkey a date but the Danish presidency said the US should mind its own business during a summit press conference yesterday.

"This is a matter for the EU," Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. A letter from US secretary of state Colin Powell to EU Commissioner Chris Patten suggested the Copenhagen criteria for membership might be ignored.

But Mr Rasmussen emphatically said the criteria that demands democratic standards was a precondition for negotiations.

There are concerns that Turkey does not yet meet even basic human rights criteria required for EU membership.

Negotiations on Cyprus went on all day yesterday between the UN special envoy Alvaro de Soto, and representatives of Cyprus, Greece and Turkey.

A new set of proposals put forward late yesterday afternoon by the UN was welcomed by the Turks who described it as positive. UN secretary general Kofi Annan has said he is willing to fly to Copenhagen to help finalise a deal.

The plan proposes two separate governments on the island with a loose confederation binding both. But there is a myriad of details that are proving difficult to resolve.

The EU has agreed to admit the Greek part of the island if unification is not agreed. And EU sources say that if the negotiations are not successful at the summit there is a very good chance the situation will be resolved by April 16 when the candidate countries sign accession treaties in Athens.

Turkey wants EU accession talks to begin in 2004 and appears to have the support of Britain and Italy, while the other member states agree with the Franco/German proposal it should be the following year.

The Danish presidency is working on a compromise proposal which they will present to the EU leaders today. It is expected this will propose to review Turkey's progress towards achieving the Copenhagen Criteria towards the end of 2003 or early 2004, and if these are met, to begin negotiations towards the end of 2004.

These dates are expected to be acceptable to Turkey, which is pushing for negotiations to begin before 2005.

However it is expected the country would take 10 to 15 years to complete arrangements for its accession to the EU, when it would become the largest country, with the second largest population, in the union.

At this stage it is all down to hard bargaining and while the EU says it refuses to be pressurised by the US or anyone else the facts are that Britain and Italy are in agreement with the Americans that Turkey would be better off inside the EU.