Cyprus 'must not damage Turkey's EU membership'
A top Turkish official said today that Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union should not be broken off over the divided island of Cyprus, hours after a European effort to reach a compromise failed, putting Ankara’s bid to join the bloc in jeopardy.
“There is no reason to break up the negotiations,” Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, the government spokesman, said after a Cabinet meeting. “Turkish-EU relations are very deep. Cyprus is not a precondition for membership. Turkey-EU relations are in the interest of both parties,” he said. “It is not right to torpedo relations between Turkey and EU, which are deep and of mutual interest.”
Turkey is under intense pressure to open up its ports and airports to Cypriot goods, but is refusing to do so until the EU takes steps to ease the isolations of Turkish Cypriots.
Cicek was speaking after a compromise solution to the dispute pushed by Finland, which holds the rotating EU presidency, failed. Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja met separately today with his Turkish and Cypriot counterparts, but reported no progress.
