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Ankara lambastes EU for lack of vision in Cyprus decision
In a statement issued in Brussels on Tuesday after a meeting of the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council, the 27 EU ministers expressed “deep regret” over the absence of improvement in Turkey’s relations with Greek Cyprus. But they took no new action to restrict talks beyond the eight chapters frozen in 2006 due to Turkey’s refusal to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic and five which have been set aside at France’s insistence.
In Ankara, a statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry late on Tuesday first of all noted that the council statement actually reaffirmed Turkey’s goal of full EU membership which is legally based on decisions made at European Council summits.
“Nevertheless, despite intense and well-intentioned efforts by the term president Sweden in particular and other council members who are aware of the importance of Turkey’s EU membership, and while there are expectations for successful result from the ongoing negotiations between the two leaders on the island, we see that the lack of vision by one certain member country is reflected within the council’s conclusions in a way which doesn’t comply with international law,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Given that a 2004 decision to ease the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots has not been fulfilled, pressuring Turkey to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic is “clearly unfair,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry stated.
 Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt (C) speaks during a joint press conference with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (L) and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn at the end of the EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Tuesday. |
The council said it expected Turkey “to actively support the ongoing negotiations” in Cyprus -- causing severe disappointment in the Turkish capital as it constantly speaks loudly in favor of the negotiations.
“Substantially, it is unfortunate that the support lent to the negotiations by Turkey is not openly appreciated in the council conclusions and it is unfortunate that it has remained silent on chapters which were suspended because of some countries’ unfair justifications,” the ministry said, urging the EU to consider the bloc’s enlargement strategy and bilateral relations separately.
In a move likely to further escalate tensions in Turkey-EU relations, following the meeting of the council, Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou said they intended to set conditions for the opening of six future chapters to secure Turkey’s compliance with the 2005 agreement.
“We are not blocking the chapters. But we will be introducing conditions for the opening of each chapter,” Kyprianou said. Saying the conditions would be related to Turkey’s broad EU obligations, he gave no details on how compliance would be measured.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Özügergin was swift to respond to Kyprianou, saying those remarks were “a unilateral statement,” while voicing Ankara’s determination to open the environment chapter during the Swedish term presidency, which will end in January. In Athens, meanwhile, Greek Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas termed the exclusion of a text proposed by the Swedish presidency, which stated, among others things, that bilateral differences between member-states and candidate-countries must not be an obstacle for EU enlargement, from the council’s conclusions a “considerable success.”
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