By Daisy Ayliffe - 19th July 2006
The EU’s failure to resolve the Cyprus issue is "poisoning" entry talks, Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul has warned.
In an interview with the FT on Thursday, Gul said the Cyprus dispute is creating an anti-EU backlash in Turkey."This process is going on, but the Cyprus question is always poisoning the issue," he said.
"Moderate liberal people [in Turkey] are becoming anti-American and anti-EU."
EU member states have insisted Turkey open its ports to Greek Cyprus.
But Gul says it will prove impossible to implement this if Cypriots refuse to lift their veto on direct trade with the Turkish enclave of northern Cyprus.
"We have been asked to lift our restrictions [on Cypriot ships], but all the isolation should continue on the Turkish side," he said in the interview.
"This is impossible. No elected government in Turkey can do this."
Gul argues that EU member states had agreed to end the isolation of northern Cyprus when Cyprus joined the EU in 2004 - but the move had been blocked ever since.
"We must get rid of this problem," he said.
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