Talks on Turkey’s EU membership back on track

TURKEY’S membership negotiations with the EU are back on track, after EU foreign ministers resolved a stand-off with Cyprus over Ankara’s relationship with the divided island.

The EU agreed to Nicosia’s demand that Ankara be reminded of its obligation to normalise relations with the country’s Greek Cypriot government, while Nicosia agreed to drop its objections to completing science and research discussions in one day, paving the way for the first of 35 rounds of talks to take place.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul travelled to Luxembourg for the talks, Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan said — an indication that Mr Gul accepted the EU’s compromise.

“The first chapter with Turkey was not an easy matter. We’ve made a start, it’s the first step along a path where every step will have to be approved by every EU member,” said Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

The science issues – seen as straightforward and uncontroversial – are the first of 35 chapters that Turkey must complete negotiations on before it can join the EU. The process is expected to last at least a decade.

But the Cypriots had insisted that before talks could start, the EU had to remind Ankara of its obligations to extend its customs union to include Cyprus and nine other member states that joined the bloc in 2004.

Although Turkey signed an agreement in July last year extending its customs union to include the EU’s 10 newest members, it has not implemented the deal. To do so would require Turkey to allow Greek Cypriot ships and planes to use its ports and airports, which it refuses to do until an international embargo on the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state is lifted.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said yesterday’s wrangle proved to Turkey EU enlargement is “no bullet train, no Eurostar”.

Earlier this year, Austrian Prime Minister Wolfgang Schuessel said the EU would push Ankara to implement the customs union by December. But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated that Turkey would not open up its ports and airport to Cyprus until the international economic embargo on Turkish Cypriots is lifted.