Mandelson backs Turkey

Don’t hold Ankara’s bid hostage to Cyprus dispute, EU trade chief says

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson speaks during a news conference in Brussels yesterday. Mandelson, a close ally of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, yesterday urged EU countries not to set a deadline for Turkey to meet its obligations toward Cyprus. ‘We need to be careful not to overreact to the current negotiating problems on Turkey’s accession,’ he said.

By Paul Taylor and Ingrid Melander - Reuters

BRUSSELS - The European Union's trade chief warned member states yesterday against making Turkey's membership bid hostage to the Cyprus dispute as EU envoys debated a partial suspension of entry talks with Ankara.

«It's not acceptable in my view to hold Turkey's accession process hostage to a settlement in Cyprus, especially when everyone, not just Turkey, has a duty to foster this settlement,» Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said.

«We need to be careful not to overreact to the current negotiating problems on Turkey's accession,» he told a news conference. Turkish membership remained «the big strategic objective for the European Union,» he said.

Ambassadors of the 25-nation bloc were meeting to discuss how hard to punish Turkey for refusing to open its ports and airports to traffic from EU member Cyprus, and Nicosia has threatened to go on blocking all membership talks with Ankara.

The executive European Commission has recommended suspending eight of the 35 policy areas or «chapters» into which the negotiations are divided, and not concluding talks on any sector until Turkey fulfills its treaty obligation on Cyprus. Nicosia has condemned the EC's move for being «too soft» on Ankara.

Diplomats said positions were so far apart that the issue was bound to be taken to an EU summit on December 14-15 despite the Finnish chair's wish to avoid another crisis summit on Turkey.

Meanwhile, Turkey's chief EU negotiator has been seeking to rally the EU's Baltic newcomers to Ankara's side, Reuters reported yesterday. «The Cyprus issue should not contaminate EU-Turkish relations,» Ali Babacan, who is also Turkey's economy minister, told reporters during a visit to Estonia.

«The European Commission's decision (to freeze membership talks) is quite unacceptable to us. It's not a fair process,» Babacan said after meeting with his Estonian counterpart Urmas Paet. Paet, who is due to take part in next week's meeting in Brussels with other EU foreign ministers, yesterday voiced support for Ankara, saying the EC's punishment was disproportionate with what it sought to achieve. «The EU must react when the customs union does not apply to all its member states in a similar way,» Paet said. «But the decisions of the Commission were too strict and not in proportion with their aim,» which was to get Turkey to lift trade restrictions imposed on Cyprus, said Paet. «Our view is that only three chapters should be affected: customs, free trade and transportation,» Paet said. «In the remaining areas, Turkey's membership negotiations should continue.»

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot leaders must, through their actions, show they are serious about reunification talks, UN chief Kofi Annan said in a report released late on Tuesday.

The report, covering developments in Cyprus from May to November, also recommended a further six-month extension of the mandate of the UN mission that has been deployed on the Mediterranean island for more than 40 years.

While the situation «remained calm and stable with no major violations of the ceasefire lines,» Annan deplored the continued stalemate in the political process and the «missed opportunities» over the past 10 years. «In the absence of a comprehensive settlement, I believe that UNFICYP (the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus) continues to play a vital role, and I therefore recommend that the Security Council extend the mandate of the force by a further period of six months, until June 15, 2007,» the outgoing UN secretary-general said. The current mandate of the force expires on December 15.

Annan's report noted that under a deal reached in July to reunify the island, Greek-Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat «have recognized that the status quo is unacceptable and that a comprehensive settlement is both desirable and possible.» «This will require compromise and political will,» said Annan, adding a call for «action from both sides to narrow the gap between words and action.»

Last July 8, Papadopoulos and Talat agreed in a meeting in Cyprus to start a twin-track process with technical committees working on day-to-day issues such as environment and policing, while more problematic core questions were simultaneously tackled.

The committees were expected to begin operating by the end of July, but both sides remain locked in behind-the-scenes discussions about how to start the process.