EU: Turkey must decide on Cyprus

European Union officials today warned that time was running out for Turkey to open its ports to Cypriot planes and ships or face a possible break in EU membership negotiations.

In a meeting with visiting Turkish officials in Luxembourg, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn urged Turkey to compromise on the issue of extending its EU customs agreement to Cyprus, saying that failure to do so could derail Ankara’s bid to join the EU for years to come.

“We may have the last window of opportunity on the Cyprus issue in the coming weeks or months for a very long time, perhaps for years,” Rehn said before talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja – whose country holds the rotating EU presidency and who was chairing talks with Gul – said nobody wanted a suspension of the negotiations, though both Greece and Cyprus, frustrated over the stalemate, have threatened to block future talks if Ankara does not budge.

Turkey has refused to accept Greek Cypriot shipments until an international embargo against Turkish Cypriots in the North of the Mediterranean island is lifted.

Last week, Greece and Cyprus forced the EU to postpone the opening of a new chapter of Turkey’s EU membership talks – on industrial policy – until a solution to the customs dispute was found.

Finland launched a new diplomatic effort, offering to reduce restrictions on the Turkish-run north of the island if Turkey in turn opened its ports to the Greek Cypriots.

The proposal would open up the northern Cyprus seaport of Famagusta to free trade with the EU. In return the Turkish side should hand over control of the abandoned town of Varosha.

The dispute has also threatened ongoing efforts to reunite the two sides of the island, which has been divided since Turkey invaded in 1974 after an attempted coup by supporters of union with Greece.

Turkey has no diplomatic relations with the island’s internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government, and backs the breakaway Turkish Cypriot republic in the north.

In 2004, Greek Cypriots voted against a UN-backed plan aimed at reuniting the country on the eve of its entry into the EU, essentially excluding the north from receiving EU benefits. Turkish Cypriots had approved the reunification plan.

Rehn said the Cyprus customs issue could prove to be the breaking point in Turkey’s membership talks, launched in October 2005 in Luxembourg. He appealed to all parties to help resolve the stand-off.

“We have some tensions in EU-Turkey relations ... but we can’t solve problems by dramatising them. Instead, we have to work prudently and with full determination in order to find solutions,” Rehn said. “Both communities and all the parties in the Cyprus problem should now really show political will.”

Today’s talks were also aimed at soothing Turkey after French politicians approved legislation that would criminalise denying the First World War killings of Armenians was genocide. The legislation still needs approval from the French Senate and president before it becomes law.

Top EU officials condemned the French legislators for approving the legislation, saying such moves would increase tension with Ankara at a time when the European bloc was encouraging Turkey to push through political and judicial reforms.

The EU said the French bill also would damage reconciliation attempts under way between Turkey and Armenia.

Turkey has acknowledged that great numbers of Armenians were killed in fighting and mass expulsions, but it does not accept the label of genocide. It has angrily demanded the French bill be retracted.

Rehn is due to give a report Nov. 8 on Turkey’s progress in moving toward EU membership. Failure to end the dispute over trade with Cyprus is leading to calls for the talks to be suspended.

EU ministers were also to voice their annoyance that Turkey’s reform efforts, notably on human rights, were starting to slip.

“On paper, reforms in Turkey have gone quite far,” German Foreign Minister Walter Steinmeier said. “We know that in some regions in Turkey the actual situation does not correspond to written law.”