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Clear, common stance sought |
ATHENS: Greece wants the European Union to issue a common, clear message to Turkey and set a deadline for Ankara to meet its EU accession obligations, the country’s foreign minister said yesterday.
EU foreign ministers meet today to decide the future of Turkey’s troubled EU negotiations in recommendations they will present to a December summit.
“Our central aim is a ... common European position which will include a clear and unwavering message on the future of Turkey’s negotiations with the EU,” Greece’s Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni told Typos newspaper in an interview.
“Also, a specific timetable for a re-evaluation by the EU’s member states so that it will be clear when Turkey will be evaluated on the progress it has made, as it promises to do after Turkish elections.”
Greece and Turkey have long been at odds over territorial and rights issues as well as the divided island of Cyprus. Ties have warmed recently and Greece backs Turkey’s EU accession.
The executive European Commission has recommended a partial suspension of accession talks because Turkey has not met a treaty obligation to open its ports and airports to traffic from Cyprus, one of the 10 new members that joined the EU in 2004.
Turkey’s last minute apparent softening on the matter, a proposal to open one port to ships from Cyprus which EU rotating presidency Finland would like further clarified, prompted a hard line response from Nicosia – a sign it would block all talks.
Bakoyanni told the paper that Turkey’s proposal was a last minute effort to create a positive impression about its candidacy.
“There was no surprise. We knew Turkey would attempt to change the climate at the last minute. (The move) is for communication purposes but, as it turned out, without results,” Bakoyanni said.
“Decisions will be formed based on real facts and not impressions. The real facts right now show Turkey is not honouring its signature on implementing the customs union protocol. The EU makes decisions always based on agreed text.”
Bakoyanni also told the newspaper that Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was a credible interlocutor, “a politician who shows he is sincerely trying for reforms in Turkey in a difficult environment, no doubt”. – Reuters |
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