BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Turkey’s chief European Union negotiator met with the bloc’s enlargement chief yesterday to discuss how to avoid a looming “train crash” in Ankara’s membership bid, over Cyprus.

European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn urged Economy Minister Ali Babacan to press ahead with political reforms and open its ports to shipping from Cyprus before the EU executive body issues its annual report on Turkey’s progress on October 24. Failure to do so could set back the accession talks, the EU has warned, and spark a political crisis between Turkey and Europe at a time when polls show a growing public estrangement. “Commissioner Rehn reiterated his well-known messages to encourage his Turkish counterpart to move on with the political reforms as soon as possible and to meet Turkey’s obligations under the Ankara agreement,” Commission spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy said.

The EU says Turkey is required under the agreement extending its customs union to 10 new member states to open its ports to shipping from Cyprus, which joined the bloc in 2004. Rehn said in a Reuters interview earlier this year he fears a ”train crash” over the Cyprus issue. There was no movement on Cyprus at the meeting, a Commission source said. Turkish officials had no immediate comment. The Commission source said Rehn raised Brussels’s concerns about freedom of expression in Turkey and the prosecution of writers and journalists for expressing their views peacefully.