EU fear over Turkey-Cyprus

Camiel Eurlings MEP says the months ahead will not be easy for the EU and Turkey.

Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey is braced for a stormy winter.

“In the next months the EU and Turkey face a very tense time over Cyprus. We said when we started talks that we wanted full implementation of the Ankara agreement by the end of 2006 but we have not seen that yet,” Eurlings says.

The initial association agreement between Europe and Turkey, known as the Ankara agreement, set the goal of establishing a customs union between all parties.

But Turkey has refused to open its ports to Cyprus and the deadlock is threatening to derail accession talks.

“We have always said all member states must be recognised in negotiations,” Eurlings continues. “We cannot have Turkey conditionalising these talks.”

The parliament says Turkey has until the end of the year to change its line on Cyprus or face the “train crash” commissioner Rehn has warned of.

“I do not think certain groups in Turkey realises how dangerous that situation would be,” Eurlings adds.

“Turkey must not risk suspension of EU talks - they must not lose this historical moment. I just hope that reason will win over emotion.”

And the Cyprus issue is not the only thing weighing on Eurlings’ mind. The Dutch MEP says Ankara must also meet deadlines on improving human rights.

“We have to be open and that is why the parliament has said that we expect Turkey to continue to reform rigorously,” he says.

“They fulfilled the political criteria to start negotiations with the EU but they did not continue to work on them – take freedom of expression for example.”

“When the EU opened talks with Turkey, we did so to acknowledge that they had covered so much ground between 2002 and 2004.”

“We bent backwards to give Turkey that extra incentive to start talks – but we said we would have to see a clear priority for more political reforms.”

“Sadly we have not seen that. We want the bigger political reforms implemented and we want them dealt with by end of 2007.”

The rapporteur’s last parliamentary report came under fire for being overly critical of Turkish developments.

Opinion polls in Turkey indicate that support for EU entry has nose dived in recent months and delegations from Ankara have pleaded with Brussels to sound a more upbeat note.

But Eurlings insists the EU has a duty to be honest with Turkey.

“Of course it worries me that Turkish people are going off the EU,” he says.

“But they should not shoot the messenger. The majority of MEPs backed my report – it was supported on the left and the right.”

“The responsibility for the opinion polls lies with the Turkish politicians. It is up to them to act and make the process as positive as possible. Of course Turkey deserves a fair chance but fairness means remaining loyal to EU values.”

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