KayCee
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 9:54 pm Post subject: EU Moves Closer to Suspending Turkey's Entry Talks |
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EU Moves Closer to Suspending Turkey's Entry Talks
The European Union moved closer to suspending Turkey's EU membership bid, threatening to punish the Turkish government for blockading trade with EU member Cyprus, EU officials said.
EU foreign ministers called for a halt to talks in eight of 35 negotiating areas unless Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan eases trade and transport curbs on the Greek Cypriot state by the end of the week.
``Eight central negotiating areas are going to be put into the deep freeze,'' Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said at an EU meeting today in Brussels. Turkey can count on ``no guarantees, nothing is automatic.''
A suspension would be precedent-setting for the EU, which grew from 15 to 25 countries with the expansion into eastern Europe in 2004. The union widens to 27 next month when Romania and Bulgaria join.
Turkey last week offered to open a seaport and an airport to traffic from the Greek Cypriot republic, which joined the EU in 2004 without the Turkish-controlled northern part of the island.
``I have no idea what the Turkish proposal really comprises,'' Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said.
Decision at Summit
Turkey has three days to make new concessions before the agreement is sealed by EU government leaders at a summit Dec. 14- 15 in Brussels.
Plassnik said the EU will look closely at Turkey's treatment of Cyprus in its annual reviews in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
``No one wants to break up the talks, but there are rules of the game,'' French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said. ``We say to our Turkish friends: you need to respect your commitments.''
Turkey has occupied northern Cyprus since a 1974 invasion after a coup by Greek Cypriot supporters of union with Greece. Turkey, which refuses to recognize the Greek Cypriot republic, has 30,000 soldiers in the north.
Erdogan, up for reelection next year, is under fire from the army and nationalist factions for already conceding too much to the EU, leaving him with little leeway to go further.
Turkey's blockade of Cyprus is ``something we can't ignore,'' German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
Turkey's snub of Cyprus led the European Commission, the EU's executive agency, to propose halting the talks in areas that relate to internal EU trade. So far Turkey has completed talks in only one negotiating area, research policy.
Talks Frozen
Negotiations will be frozen in areas including customs, fisheries, financial services, other services and external relations. Talks in other areas shouldn't be completed before Turkey lifts the curbs against Cyprus, the commission proposed.
Britain had led a group of countries calling for a more limited suspension to prevent Turkish public opinion from turning against the EU.
``We take the view, and I think most member states do in their heart of hearts, that it is enormously in the strategic interests of the EU as well as in the interests of Turkey for negotiations'' to go on, U.K. Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said in an interview with BBC television.
Turkey also faces criticism for limits on women's and minority rights, and for prosecuting dissident writers. The government argues that an EU freeze would provoke a domestic backlash against the reforms the EU is demanding.
Turkey is undertaking ``huge changes'' to align with the EU, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul wrote in today's International Herald Tribune. ``There is no interest in taking the incentive away. The EU should continue to encourage our efforts.''
Greek Cypriots voted to join the EU without the Turkish side in 2004 when they vetoed a unification plan that was endorsed by the Turkish Cypriots.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aMGVmcTTKfNs&refer=germany |
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