Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
on Tuesday rejected any deadline or what he called "blackmail" on
the Cyprus issue, the semi-official Anatolia news agency
reported.
"Issues like this can not be worked out by blackmail or setting
deadlines," Gul told reporters after a brief meeting with Turkish
Prime Minister Erdogan and chief negotiator for EU talks Ali
Babacan.
The EU has urged Turkey to accept a Finnish formula for opening
Turkish ports to shipping from EU-member Greek Cyprus, in return
for allowing the Turkish Cypriots to trade through a seaport in
northern Cyprus.
Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, whose country is holding
the current EU rotating presidency, said on Monday that time was
running out for Turkey and its EU entry talks could be negatively
affected unless Ankara agreed to open its harbors and airports to
Greek Cypriot traffic, according to local media.
Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on
Tuesday that his government will not take any step if they do not
agree with the offered proposals.
"Our views are obvious, and we will continue our talks. But, we
will not take any step if we do not agree with the proposals they
lay before us," he said.
According to the EU progress report on Turkey and strategy paper
released on Nov. 8, the leaders of the 25-nation bloc will make a
suggestion over whether Turkey's refusal to open ports will
negatively affect the relations during their meeting in
mid-December.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey militarily
intervened and occupied the north of Cyprus following a coup by a
group of Greek officers.
The internationally-recognized Republic of Cyprus entered the EU
in the year of 2004 in the name of the whole island.
The EU has said that Turkey, with which it began membership
talks in October last year, must open its ports and airports to
traffic from Cyprus this year under the additional protocol,
otherwise it will end the accession talks with Turkey.
(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2006)
