Ecevit delivers stark warning over Cyprus

Date: 23/11/00

By Simon Taylor

TURKISH Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit has warned that he will rethink his country's relations with the Union if member states insist on linking Ankara's bid to join the bloc to a resolution of the political situation in Cyprus.

Ecevit says Turkey is not prepared to accept demands that it make progress on the Cyprus dispute and other arguments over international borders before it can move closer to EU membership. He has cautioned that "a review of our relations with the European Union will become inevitable" unless all references to these issues are deleted from the country's accession strategy, which sets out the reforms it must make before it can join the Union.

Turkey lobbied EU governments hard this week to change the blueprint drawn up by the European Commission for Ankara's bid to join the Union, but foreign ministers delayed a decision on whether to approve the strategy until their next meeting in December.

The Commission document says one of Turkey's priorities for next year must be to "support strongly" the United Nations' efforts to end the long-running dispute over Cyprus. The island has been divided since 1974, when Turkish forces invaded the northern half in response to a Greek Cypriot coup.

But Ecevit has written to Union leaders insisting the Cyprus question should not be turned into an issue "between Turkey and the EU", adding: "Removal of all references to Cyprus in our accession partnership document would serve that end." He said Ankara would "continue to give support to the search for a lasting and viable settlement through an agreement between the two parties in Cyprus", but stressed that only the Greek and Turkish Cypriots could find a solution.

Turkish officials say their government is worried that failure to reach a breakthrough in peace talks could be used to block Ankara's progress towards Union membership. "Turkey cannot solve this alone," said one. "If it is in our political priorities, we cannot move ahead because any member state can hold us hostage."

Greece had been pushing for even tougher language on Cyprus in the accession 'road map' but was rebuffed by other EU countries, which argued against a strategy Turkey would find unacceptable.

The row over the reference to Cyprus is not the only obstacle to agreement on the way forward for Ankara. Devlet Bahceli, Turkey's deputy prime minister and leader of the nationalist MHP, has rejected the Union's demands that the country's Kurdish citizens should be granted full cultural rights. He warned that this would "deepen ethnic divisions" in society, arguing that "separatist activities" by minorities had been a drain on the country's resources.

But Turkish officials insist there is nothing unusual in candidate countries failing to meet all the criteria for membership within the timetable laid down by the EU.

Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit has warned that he will rethink his country's relations with the Union if Member States insist on linking Ankara's bid to join the bloc to a resolution of the political situation in Cyprus.