By Daisy Ayliffe - 8th December 2006
Cyprus will not accept Turkey’s latest attempt to salvage its EU accession talks and has threatened to block future talks.
As EU diplomats gathered to discuss a response to the Turkish proposal on opening some trade ties with Cyprus on Friday, Nicosia warned that it will not soften its stance.
“Nicosia will revert to a harder line if some in the EU attempt to use this to restrict the sanctions which should be imposed on Turkey for non-compliance,” Cypriot foreign minister George Lillikas is quoted as saying on national radio.
Cyprus has also blocked a plan that would have seen EU foreign ministers call for an early resumption of UN peace talks on the divided Mediterranean island when they meet in Brussels on Monday.
Ankara attempted to salvage its EU entry bid on Wednesday with a package designed to persuade Brussels not to freeze accession talks.
In a message to the Finnish EU presidency in Helsinki, Ankara said the port of Famagusta in Northern Cyprus would be opened for “direct trade” for one year.
Turkey also proposed allowing international flights to land at Ercan in the Turkish occupied north of Cyprus for the same period.
But the verbal offer has split EU member states and on Friday the European commission said it would not be changing its recommendations on freezing negotiating chapters for the time being.
“We still need to seek further clarification to know what exactly the Turkish offer on the table is,” a spokeswoman told reporters.
“For the time being our recommendations of November 29 remain on the table.”
Speaking on behalf of the Finnish EU presidency, Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen said the offer was welcome but Ankara has still not fulfilled all of its commitments.
"The offer does not mean full implementation of the Ankara protocol," he said.
"This is a positive step and it will give us a better possibility for finding a proposal."
Last month the European commission dealt a heavy blow to Turkey’s EU entry bid, recommending the suspension of eight of the country’s 35 negotiating chapters.
Brussels warned Ankara that eight chapters would be completely halted - although, crucially, no chapters will be closed - until it opens its ports to Cyprus.
But EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said crisis could be averted if Ankara gave ground before a crucial European summit on December 11.
“There is still time to score a golden goal before the December 11 foreign ministers meeting,” he said at the end of November.
Whether Turkey’s latest offer represents a golden goal, extra time or the final whistle will be decided by EU foreign ministers when they meet on Monday.
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