By Daisy Ayliffe - 19th June 2006
Turkey’s EU entry bid faces a “major accident” unless Ankara opens ports to Cypriot vessels, Olli Rehn has warned.
Addressing MEPs on Tuesday, the European enlargement commissioner urged Turkey to stick to its word on implementing customs agreements with the EU.
“If we want to avoid a major problem in the autumn, Turkey needs to stick to its word without hesitation,” the Finnish commissioner declared.
“Turkey should open its ports to vessels under the flag of all member states, including the Republic of Cyprus.”
EU talks with Ankara hit a hurdle last week, when prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected Brussels demands for Turkey to end its trade curbs on Cyprus.
“The difficult discussions we had on the closure of the negotiation chapter science and research demonstrate that this issue is omnipresent in the process,” Rehn explained on Tuesday.
But the EU executive’s criticism was not reserved solely for Ankara, Rehn called on Cyprus to “stop complaining against past injustice and rather work on future solutions with a pragmatic approach”.
“The EU should also do more to demonstrate clearly its determination to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community, and thus to allow for direct trade between this community and the rest of the EU,” he added.
In a hard hitting speech before the European parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Rehn also stressed the need for progress on the pace of reforms in Turkey.
“After more than three years of substantial legislative reforms, I am concerned that the reform process has lost its momentum,” he said.
“It is therefore important that new initiatives are taken, such as the new package of reforms about to be adopted by the Turkish parliament before the summer recess.”
Brussels is concerned human rights are being overlooked and that Ankara is failing to secure independence of the Turkish judiciary.
“There are still a number of court cases brought against people expressing non-violent opinions,” Rehn told MEPs.
“If judges and prosecutors continue to give a restrictive interpretation of the penal code, then its vaguely formulated articles should be amended to be clearly in line with the relevant EU standards.”
The commission will review Turkish progress in a monitoring report to be adopted in the autumn.
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