ANKARA: Turkey may have averted a collapse in talks to join the European Union with a last-minute offer to give EU-member Cyprus access to one of its ports, analysts said on Friday, but the move brings domestic risk ahead of elections.
Ankara surprised the EU-- which is split on how hard to punish Turkey at a summit next week-- with an offer to open one port provisionally for a year in a step towards meeting an obligation to normalise trade with all new member states.
Turkey also pledged to open an airport on Turkish soil to Cypriot commercial flights but expects the opening of a port and an airport in Turkish Cypriot northern Cyprus.
Turkey does not recognise the Greek Cypriot administration, which represents Cyprus as a whole inside the European Union.
“It's a risky move, but it could be a golden goal as EU Commissioner Olli Rehn has urged Turkey to try to score,” said Semih Idiz, diplomatic editor at the CNN Turk private channel and a veteran EU observer.
“If the offer is rejected outright by the EU it will weaken the government domestically and make it harder to push through reforms in the future,” Idiz said.
Several EU members gave a positive but cautious response to the Turkey offer, seeking more details. Turkey's media largely called it a bold move that threw the ball back in the EU court.
EU foreign ministers meet on Monday to decide whether to approve a proposal to partially suspend eight out of 35 policy areas in Turkey's accession negotiations and refuse to conclude talks in any sector until Ankara complies on trade with Cyprus.
If, as many expect, they fail to find common ground, the issue goes to a summit of EU leaders on Dec 14-15.
Turkey began EU accession talks last year but has made little progress as Cyprus, an EU member since 2004, has blocked the opening of new chapters for negotiations.
Cyprus has been split along ethnic lines since Turkey invaded northern Cyprus in 1974 after a brief Greek Cypriot coup backed by the military junta then ruling Greece.
Turks were surprised at Thursday's move by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government, less than a year before presidential and parliamentary polls.
Opposition parties have denounced the offer, calling it a sell-out to Cyprus and the EU. Opposition leader Deniz Baykal said it amounted to political recognition of southern Cyprus.
Turkey's previous position was not to budge until the EU makes good on promises to end the Turkish Cypriots’ isolation.
The government clearly needed to find a way out of that corner.
The proposal has also angered the powerful armed forces, which has seen its powers clipped by EU-inspired reforms.
“The head of the Turkish armed forces should not have to learn of such a decision from the television,” armed forces chief General Yasar Buyukanit told leading newspaper Hurriyet.
“Shouldn't the institution which deploys 40,000 soldiers there (in Northern Cyprus) be advised of such an important decision and asked for its view,” Buyukanit was quoted saying.
Erdogan has taken a big risk because while he needs to keep alive the EU bid, a key factor for Turkey's booming economy and an important policy area for the ruling AK Party, he cannot risk alienating nationalist voters.
“The AK Party government has realised that if it loses the EU card it will easily fall prey to parochial and nationalistic forces,” said Dogu Ergil of Ankara University.
“They have taken a calculated risk on the domestic front but on the other hand they have offered new input to the negotiations process that could change the atmosphere and the shape of discussion that was quite against Turkey,” Ergil said.
Analysts said Erdogan was seeking to take the moral high ground on the Cyprus issue and challenge the EU and Nicosia to come up with a compromise.
Cyprus has already rejected the Turkish offer, saying it comes with conditions unacceptable to their side.
“Turkey wants to prove they are not the ones that are intransigent, negatively hanging on to an old state position,”
Ergil said. “It rattles the status quo but it doesn't change it because the Greek Cypriots still have the veto power in the EU.”—Reuters
