Athens seeks Cyprus pledge in return for deal on Turkey

Date: 02/12/1999

By Simon Taylor

GREECE is pushing other EU governments to pledge to let Cyprus join the Union without resolving the dispute over its divided status in return for agreeing to make Turkey a full candidate for membership at next week's Helsinki summit.

EU diplomats say Athens has been asking for a commitment from its Union partners on the island's entry into the club as the price for agreeing to give Ankara favourable treatment at the summit.

Cyprus has made better progress than the other leading applicants in negotiations on accession so far, but a failure to find a political solution to the dispute between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot parts of the island could result in its entry bid being blocked at the final hurdle.

Previous attempts by Athens to clear the way for Cyprus to join without an end to the row have been blocked by France, which argued that the island's future status must be settled before it becomes a member of the Union. But Paris recently indicated that it might be prepared to soften its stance.

Greece's decision to focus its efforts on winning concessions from other EU governments instead of from Turkey was highlighted this week by Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who said that if Athens was forced to veto Turkey's candidacy at Helsinki, "the responsibility for this would lie with Greece's EU partners".

Until now, Athens has insisted that Ankara should give ground on contentious issues such as Cyprus or disputes over islands in the Aegean before Greece would agree to giving it candidate status. But Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit made it clear this week that his government was not prepare to move on either issue.

Diplomats say Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis is trying to extract a commitment from Union governments to demonstrate that Athens can get something in return for improving relations with Turkey. Simitis faces elections next year and is anxious to avoid accusations that he has failed to defend Greek interests in relations with the EU and Turkey.

Signs of a shift in Athens' position came in the week when Ankara's chances of being given candidate status suffered a setback after a court upheld the death penalty on Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.

EU politicians, including Union foreign policy supremo Javier Solana and Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, warned that Turkey would stand next to no chance of joining the Union if Ocalan was executed. The court's decision still has to be ratified by the Turkish Parliament, offering the possibility that the judgement could be overturned.

Another threat to Turkish hopes of securing candidate status at the Helsinki summit appears to be receding.

Diplomats said this week that there were indications that Sweden would drop its objections to the move following a meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Ismael Cem and his Swedish counterpart Anna Lindh where human rights where discussed.

Greece is pushing other EU governments to pledge to let Cyprus join the Union without resolving the dispute over its divided status in return for agreeing to make Turkey a full candidate for membership at the Helsinki Summit, December 1999.