HELSINKI: Turkey has been given a blunt warning that its European Union membership talks could be suspended within months unless Ankara resolves a dispute with Greek Cyprus.
In a sign that Turkey’s 40-year European dream is in danger of being derailed, the EU’s incoming presidency told Ankara that it would trigger a crisis this autumn if it failed to open its ports and airports to Cyprus. “There is always the possibility to stop the negotiations,” Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said at a press conference in Helsinki to launch his country’s six-month EU presidency. “I believe Turkey knows that.”
Mr Vanhanen’s intervention highlighted the growing impatience across the EU at Turkey’s failure to live up to its commitment to extend its customs union to all 25 members — including its arch-enemy. The EU is insisting that Turkey do this by the end of this year.
Ankara is refusing to take such a step until the EU ends its trade embargo of the “Republic of Northern Cyprus”, recognised by no one but the Turks since their 1974 invasion. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, flatly rejected EU demands this month when he declared: “Don’t expect anything ... not on the subject of the ports and airports.”
The EU, which had hoped to admit a united Cyprus when the EU expanded in 2004, is keen to end the embargo but says Ankara must move first. The remarks by Mr Vanhanen will be seen as particularly significant because Finland is one of Turkey’s few champions in the EU. Ankara was granted formal EU candidate status during Finland’s last EU presidency in 1999.
But Mr Vanhanen underlined his frustration on Friday when he endorsed the European commission’s warning of a “train crash” in Turkey’s membership negotiations. Asked whether he supported the view of Olli Rehn, Finland’s European enlargement commissioner, Mr Vanhanen said: “I totally share his view. Olli Rehn was my assistant before he was nominated [for Brussels].”
Mr Rehn believes Turkey’s membership negotiations will come to a head in the autumn for two reasons. First, he will publish his annual progress report on Turkey’s preparations for EU membership. This will criticise Ankara for slowing the pace of domestic reforms in areas such as human rights and freedom of speech.
Second, the EU will offer its “evaluation” of how Turkey is implementing the “Ankara protocol” to extend its customs union across the EU. Black marks are expected in both areas.
Mr Vanhanen, who admitted that “Turkey will become a difficult question” during Finland’s EU presidency, balanced his remarks by saying the EU must admit countries that fulfil the entry criteria.
He recently helped defeat an attempt by Austria to put the brakes on Turkey’s membership by making an informal assessment of the EU’s ability to “absorb” a new country into a formal criterion.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service
