By Martin Banks - 27th January 2011
All these reforms are taking us closer to EU membership
Egemen Bagis
Turkish EU affairs minister Egemen Bagis says Ankara is "ready to compromise" over finding a resolution to the Cyprus problem.
He said Turkey was committed to a "fair and lasting" solution to the problem which most observers see as being crucial to Turkey's EU membership ambitions.
But, speaking in Brussels on Thursday, he said Turkey could not accept a solution that left the Turkish Cypriot community on the island "socially, economically and politically isolated".
He also strongly condemned Greek Cypriots who, he said, had launched an attack on a group of Turkish basketball players taking part in a competition in Cyprus before Christmas.
Addressing a European Policy Centre briefing, he said Greek Cypriot police "looked away" when a 2000-strong mob attacked the Turks.
"We don't deserve that sort of thing," he said. "We deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, just as Greek Cypriots are when they visit Turkey."
Turning to the issue of Turkish EU membership, Bagis, who is Ankara's chief accession negotiator, said the reform process in Turkey meant the country was ready to close "many more" negotiation chapters.
Some 13 of a total of 33 chapters have been opened so far but he argued, such was the pace of reform that up to 29 chapters could be opened immediately.
He pointed out that in the past week alone the Turkish parliament had adopted some 3000 separate legislative proposals, something that would ordinarily take four to five years.
He said, "All these reforms are taking us closer to EU membership."
However, he warned the process could be held up by those member states where "domestic issues" dominated debate over Turkish accession.
"One example is energy. Turkey is a very important player when it comes to energy but, to date, we have been unable to open a negotiating chapter on energy."
He also called on the EU to start talks on granting Turks visa-free travel to the EU, saying their inability to travel to European countries without a visa was "totally unacceptable".
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