EU to note reform improvements, refrain from Cyprus sanctions

The draft resolution, prepared by the Swedish Presidency of the EU, expresses “regret” that Turkey, “despite repeated calls, has not yet fulfilled its obligation of full non-discriminatory implementation of the Additional Protocol to the Association Agreement,” a document which the EU says commits Turkey to opening its ports and airports to vessels from EU member Greek Cyprus. In 2006, the EU suspended negotiations with Turkey on eight relevant chapters -- out of 35 in total -- because of Turkey’s non-compliance and vowed to review the issue once again in December 2009, suggesting that a suspension of the accession talks process could be an option. But the draft text prepared for next week’s ministerial meeting on Dec. 7-8 and leaders’ summit on Dec. 10-11 calls for no definite sanction, angering the Greek Cypriots, who have pressured the Swedish presidency to toughen the text.

“The Council will continue to closely follow and review progress made, in accordance with its conclusions of Dec. 11, 2006, and other related Council conclusions. Progress is now expected without further delay,” the draft resolution, a copy of which was obtained by Today’s Zaman, says. The document was being discussed at a meeting of COREPER, an EU body comprised of permanent representatives of the member states at the 27-nation bloc.

The text is to be submitted to the EU foreign ministers for evaluation at their Dec. 7-8 meeting before being sent to the leaders for final approval. Amendments are possible in all meetings.

The draft discussed at yesterday’s COREPER meeting also urges Turkey to “actively support” ongoing negotiations “aimed at a fair, comprehensive and viable settlement of the Cyprus problem within the UN framework, in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and in line with the principles on which the Union is founded, including concrete steps to help bring about a climate favorable to such a comprehensive settlement.”

Turkey says it will not open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus, which it does not recognize, unless the EU takes a step towards fulfilling its own promises to lift severe economic sanctions on the internationally unrecognized Turkish Cyprus. Despite promising to allow direct trade with the isolated Turkish Cyprus in 2004, the EU has so far not taken any step to that effect, under pressure from Greek Cyprus, which joined the EU as the representative of the entire island shortly after the EU plan for direct trade with Turkish Cyprus was unveiled. The Greek Cypriots claim EU steps to allow trade with the Turkish Cypriots would deepen the island’s division. They rejected, however, a UN plan to reunite the island just before accession to the EU, while the Turkish Cypriots accepted it.

Turkish leaders have warned in the past few days that any EU decision to impose sanctions on Turkey over the Cyprus ports dispute would have serious repercussions on Turkish-EU ties. “There are already too many sanctions on Turkey because of Cyprus,” Egemen Bağış, Turkey’s chief EU negotiator, said in a speech in Brussels on Thursday. “Any additional sanctions will kill the motivation of my leaders towards the EU.”

Positive steps in problematic areas

Leaving aside the Cyprus criticism, the document is expected to please the Turkish government as it acknowledges improvements in a number of problematic areas such as civilian-military relations. “Positive steps have been registered in the areas of the judiciary, civil-military relations and cultural rights,” it says. The EU says it is also “encouraged by the government’s democratic initiative including on the Kurdish issue.”

The government is pushing for a massive democratization drive that, among other things, will expand rights for Turkey’s Kurds. The initiative, which has the backing of Western powers such as the EU and the US and Middle Eastern neighbors including Syria and Iraq, has been severely criticized at home by the nationalist opposition, which says it will undermine Turkey’s national unity.

The draft resolution says the democratization initiative “should lead to concrete measures guaranteeing all Turkish citizens full rights and freedoms and should significantly improve the situation in the Southeast” and adds that the EU “welcomes the government’s efforts towards building a national consensus, which will also be beneficial to the reform process, including the work on a constitutional reform.”

But it also urges Ankara to step up the pace of reforms, particularly in the areas of freedom of expression, elimination of torture, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all religious communities, trade union rights, civilian oversight of the military and gender equality. “The Council notes that the negotiations have reached a more demanding stage requiring Turkey to step up its efforts in meeting all conditions,” it says.

It also includes a paragraph which appears to ease Turkey’s concerns that the accession process, which should proceed according to the Turkish progress in meeting technical standards, is being stalled due to political opposition to Turkish accession in some EU countries. “The Council points out that the negotiating chapters for which technical preparations have been concluded will be opened or closed provisionally, according to established procedures,” says the document.

‘Important player’

The document acknowledges Turkey’s growing clout in its region, saying it is an “important player” which has a key role in “energy supply and the promotion of dialogue between civilizations.” It welcomes “the significant diplomatic efforts made to normalize relations with Armenia, resulting in the historic signature of protocols for the normalization of relations in October 2009. It looks forward to the ratification and implementation of the protocols as soon as possible.”