Turkey was given a month on Wednesday to come into line with the European Union or risk a crisis in its EU accession talks.
In a sign of its growing impatience, the European commission indicated that some areas of the negotiations may be suspended unless Ankara gives ground on the key issue of Cyprus before next month’s summit of European leaders.
”We decided to give a chance for the diplomatic efforts to find a solution,” said the commission president, José Manuel Barroso. His remarks came after the commission stopped short of recommending that Turkey be punished for failing to live up to commitments it gave to the EU before formal membership negotiations opened last year.
In a report, however, the commission criticised Turkey for slowing the pace of reform on human rights and for refusing to extend its customs union with the EU to include the Republic of Cyprus.
Olli Rehn, the European enlargement commissioner who published the report, focused most of his attention on Cyprus in the light of Turkey’s refusal to abide by its 2004 commitment on the customs union. He said: ”Turkey is expected to ensure full implementation of the [customs union] and remove obstacles to the free movement of goods, including restrictions of transport.”
Rehn’s cautious words were designed to give more time for Finland, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, to broker a compromise on Cyprus. Turkey is refusing to implement the Ankara protocol, which would mean opening its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot ships and planes, until the EU ends its trade embargo of Turkish-held northern Cyprus.
The EU accepts the need to phase out the embargo, but says Turkey must act first because Cyprus is now a full member of the EU.
The Republic of Cyprus is recognised by the EU as the lawful government of the whole of the divided island, though its writ does not extend north of the United Nations buffer zone established after the Turkish invasion in 1974.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, who faces elections next year, indicated that he was unlikely to make a unilateral move ahead of next month’s EU summit. ”We have said, ‘Don’t ever expect us to open our ports and airports until the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot state is lifted’,” he said.
His remarks indicate that EU leaders will probably have to agree on a form of punishment to impose on Turkey at their summit next month.
Supporters of Turkey, such as Britain, will call for a light touch in which ”chapters” of Ankara’s EU negotiations specifically related to the customs union — such as the free movement of goods — are suspended. Critics of Turkey, such as the Republic of Cyprus, may say that all 35 chapters should be suspended because Ankara is in breach of a fundamental condition of the talks by refusing to recognise an established EU member.
France, which is likely to play a pivotal role at the summit because it is wary of Turkish membership, made clear that its patience is wearing thin. Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French Foreign Minister, said: ”If by the end of the year Turkey still does not recognise the 25 member states, notably including Cyprus, then it appears to me necessary to rethink the timetable for the membership of Turkey to the EU.”
Rehn, who also attempted to recast the EU’s overall enlargement by winning greater public support for the process, chose his language carefully to avoid what he has dubbed a ”train crash” in Turkey’s relations with the EU.
”It is obvious that the EU accession process is no bullet train — no Eurostar, pas de TGV,” he said. ”It is rather like the Orient Express, a train which takes its time where the quality of the service and comfort comes first, before hurry. Yes, it is a slow, slow train coming, and not precisely up around the bend.”
Backstory
Turkey’s EU membership hopes could flounder over Cyprus. The Mediterranean island has been divided since Turkey invaded in 1974 after an Athens-backed attempt to seize control of Cyprus. The Republic of Cyprus is recognised as the lawful government of the whole island by the EU, which it joined in 2004. But the republic’s writ does not extend to the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognised only by Ankara. Turkey agreed to extend its EU customs union to cover the whole of Cyprus, but is refusing to do so until the EU ends a trade embargo on the north of the island. – Guardian Unlimited Â