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Cyprus festering


The countdown to the Dec. 17 summit brings an increase in EU pressure on Ankara to recognize the Greek Cypriot government before a decision on whether to open membership negotiations is made

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News


Pressure on Turkey to acknowledge the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot administration, one of the 25 members of the European Union, became even stronger on Ankara yesterday when the union’s top officials told Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül that the issue must be settled before a critical summit in mid-December, which will decide whether to start accession talks.

“We said that the matter should be resolved before the summit,” Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, told a news conference in The Hague after an EU Troika meeting with Gül.
The EU Commission recommended on Oct. 6 to EU leaders that long-delayed accession talks with Turkey begin, as the country has sufficiently fulfilled the necessary criteria. The 25 EU leaders will decide whether to open the talks at a summit on Dec. 17.
Yesterday’s meeting with the Troika, comprising foreign ministers of the Netherlands and Luxembourg and the current and next term presidents of the EU as well as new Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, had special importance as it was the last high-level talks between Turkey and the EU ahead of the critical summit.

The Greek Cypriot leadership has hinted that it could use a veto against the opening of accession talks with Turkey at the December summit, although observers agreed this was unlikely. But non-recognition continues to be an irritant in Turkey’s EU bid.
Gül, when asked at the news conference whether Turkey would recognize the Greek Cypriot government if given a go-ahead to start the accession talks, said Ankara would continue to work for a solution but said this did not depend solely on Turkey, lamenting that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s reunification plan, which he said was the only way to solution, had failed because of a Greek Cypriot rejection in an April 24 referendum.

“Turkey did its best for the success of the plan,” he said.
In Ankara, however, leader of the Socialist group in the European Parliament aired a warning to Ankara on the Cyprus issue similar to that of Bot during a visit here.
Martin Schulz, whose Socialist group supports Turkey’s membership bid, pointed to complications in Turkey’s EU bid that could stem from not recognizing the Greek Cypriot administration. “The problem should be resolved by Dec. 17,” said Schulz in a media   interview.
News reports said the United States, a supporter of Turkey’s membership, has also advised Ankara to extend recognition to Greek Cyprus ahead of the Dec. 17 summit, saying recognition or a strong sign to that effect would significantly boost Turkey’s prospects to get a positive decision for the opening of talks.
U.S. officials in Ankara, however, denied the report.
Turkey is unwilling vis-a-vis any recognition of the Greek Cypriot administration, awaiting instead steps from the international community to end the international isolation of the Turkish Cypriots after they voted in favor of a U.N. plan for reunification of the island in an April 24 referendum.
 

Talks after screening
 
Turkey is expected to get the green light to start accession talks at the December summit, but the timing still remains unclear, with France reportedly preferring them to begin in late 2005 or early 2006 but with others like Germany pushing for a closer date.
Both Bot and Enlargement Commissioner Rehn said a pre-talks screening period, aimed at checking the compatibility of Turkish regulations with those of the EU, was likely to precede formal membership talks, if the EU leaders agreed to open the talks in December. The accession talks would then start “without delay,” probably in summer of 2005, Bot said.

Ankara has initially opposed a screening, a process aimed at checking the compatibility of Turkish regulations with those of the EU, describing it a “pretext” to delay talks, but, having seen the European determination to go ahead with it, subsequently said it should not last more than three months so that accession talks can start in the first half of 2005.
Bot said such a process would be useful, and Rehn announced that the commission was ready to start the screening as soon as possible following a positive decision at the December summit.

 Luxembourg, which will hold the EU presidency in the first half of 2005, is prepared to host initial screening talks starting in March, The Associated Press said. More formal negotiations would being during Britain's presidency, in the second half of the year.
The Troika also raised remaining expectations from Ankara in the run-up to the December summit and cited situation concerning rights of non-Muslim minorities in Turkey. “It continues to be a serious source of concern,” Bot said.
In a sign of widespread European misgivings about Turkish membership, the EU Commission said on Oct. 6 that the talks would be an open-ended process whose outcome cannot be guaranteed, rattling Ankara.
Gül, in a reference to the commission’s conditions, said he had told the EU Troika that some parts of the commission’s report required clarification. But the EU defended its proposal, with Rehn saying that the wording of the Oct. 6 report tipped the balance between concerns in Europe and Turkey’s expectations.