EU holds talks on Turkey's membership

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Union urged Turkey Thursday to open its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels, ahead of a summit that may turn up pressure on Ankara over its refusal to comply with the terms of a trade pact with the bloc.



"It is very clear that the implementation (of the accord) is an obligation for Turkey... and we will express ourselves on the issue at a summit in December," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told a press conference.



Bildt was part of a visiting EU delegation, including also Spain's state secretary for Europe Diego Lopez Garrido, whose country takes over the presidency next year, and the EU representative in Turkey, Marc Pierini.



The delegation held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the country's chief negotiator in EU membership talks, Egemen Bagis, to review progress in the country's struggling membership bid.



Turkey refuses to allow Greek Cypriot vessels use its air and sea ports under a customs union pact with the bloc on grounds the EU has failed to keep promises to ease the international isolation of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots.



Davutoglu said the problem would be resolved "not by exerting unilateral pressure on Turkey, but by finding a comprehensive, just and durable solution to the Cyprus conflict."



The EU has already punished Ankara by freezing accession talks in eight of the 35 policy areas that candidates must complete.



In a newspaper interview this month, Cyprus President Demetris Christofias hinted his country might seek more sanctions against Turkey at the December summit.



Some analysts however believe the EU will refrain from tough measures, wary not to raise fresh tensions and undermine UN-sponsored peace talks between the Turkish and Greek communities in Cyprus aimed at ending the island's 35-year division.



The talks began in September 2008, but progress has been slow and the two sides remain deeply divided on key issues.



Turkey is bitter that the Greek Cypriots, whose government is the island's internationally recognized administration, were admitted into the EU in 2004 despite voting down a UN peace plan, while the Turkish Cypriots - who gave the plan an overwhelmingly support - were left out in the cold.



Since starting membership negotiations in 2005, Ankara has opened talks only in 11 of the 35 policy areas. The process has been slowed down also by opposition by some EU members, notably France and Germany, who argue that the populous and relatively poor Muslim-majority country should be given a special status rather than membership.



The EU officials Thursday welcomed a reform plan drawn up by Ankara to expand the freedoms of its Kurdish minority in a bid to end a bloody 25-year insurgency in the southeast.



Garrido said Spain was hoping to secure progress in Turkey's accession talks when it takes over the EU presidency on January 1. "The political reforms explained today by the two Turkish ministers is a very good process to get Turkey closer to the EU... Spain has the intention to open new chapters, not to slow down the negotiations," he said, AFP reported.
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