Verheugen tells Turkey to push for Cyprus deal

Date: 20/03/03

By David Cronin

THE European Commission will tell Turkey in no uncertain terms next week that it must strive to reunify Cyprus if it is to realise its own EU membership ambitions.

Until now Ankara has insisted that the Cyprus question should be viewed separately from the 'Copenhagen criteria', which set the conditions for joining the EU.

But Günter Verheugen, the enlargement commissioner, said on Monday (17 March) that Turkey must view a Cyprus settlement "in conjunction with the political criteria for [Turkish] membership".

Speaking to the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, he said that a new accession partnership strategy for Turkey - scheduled to be adopted by the Commission on 26 March - will emphasise this.

The German said he regretted that Turkey's ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) had not been able to put the "necessary pressure" on Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to sign up to the settlement plan tabled by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Annan remains open to discussion on the plan - despite the collapse of last week's talks over Cyprus in The Hague - and Verheugen argued it was the best deal the Turkish Cypriots could hope for.

Kemal Dervis, the former Turkish finance minister, predicted that Annan's proposals to allow Greek Cypriots uprooted in the 1974 Turkish invasion of the island to return to areas now under Turkish Cypriot control could create tension. The UN proposal, he added, could lead to a "lack of parity".

Dervis also argued that new Greek Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos "needs time to build trust" as he had previously earned a reputation as a "right-wing extremist".

The European Commission is to tell Turkey that it must strive to reunify Cyprus if it is to realise its own EU membership ambitions, in a new accession partnership strategy scheduled to be adopted on 26 March 2003.