Turkey hopes EU stance will be rewarded

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today said the European Union should reward Turkey and Turkish Cypriots for their positive stance in the referendum on a UN plan to reunite the island, which they endorsed and Greek Cypriots rejected.

For Turkey, that would mean an EU decision to start long-awaited membership negotiations, and for Turkish Cypriots an end to their decades of political and economic isolation.